Remnant of an Iron Rose (Adopted from ptabs0101)
by FireteamNero
Summary: (The official continuation of ptabs' crossover story, made with his permission and blessing.) The Vex invasion had been thwarted but battle against the Darkness still wages on as its forces work to overthrow the Light from either behind the scenes or out in the open. Remnant faced a major change to its future as the Last City is plagued by the mistakes of its past.
1. Byf's Class For Intuitive Minds

**A/N**

**Diluation:Hey all; Diluation here. Now some of you may already know me, some of you may not, and some of you just don't care and wanna read. I get that.**

**I just wanna say, that if he doesn't make it(and I sincerely hope he does, don't get that wrong), I may not be the next Ptabs… but I'll do my best to be one.**

**It's really all I have to say. Now, for a word from the others.**

**Animeak116:What's up everyone, Anime guy here. Today me, and 3 other writers who know, read the works of, and worked with Ptabs have come together, to help continue Remnant of a Iron Rose and on. Don't worry, we'll still continue our own content, but in all honesty, Ptab's work is our main priority.**

**Please go to his profile to give him some love and support, as he has Asthma and Lung cancer. I hope you all enjoy, as we all work together to make this happen for you all. I'll see you guys later.**

**Aquilos:Hi all, I'm just hoping that we can stay true to ptabs' legacy, and do his writing and story justice. Our hearts are with him during this difficult time, and we wish for a speedy recovery.**

**Please also go read Remnant of an Iron Rose, and if you haven't, Remnant of a Rose. Both are made by Ptabs0101, and this is to be a direct continuation of Iron Rose.**

* * *

The Warlock known as Byf didn't know what to expect when he was selected by the Consensus to be one of their delegation to Remnant. The Cryptarch's experience with children and adolescents were mostly limited to the few that he interacted with when he went down to the city. He had educated young and upcoming guardians on whatever matters they inquired, but a lot of this was via pre recorded lectures and videos, distributed to any guardian who sought them out. Actual teaching was a bit of a new experience.

That being said, what Byf definitely did not expect was to see an entire lecture hall of students, groaning in various degrees of pain and injury. Most just looked exhausted, but some were bandaged up in different places. The worst few were covered in bandages and various bruises. Some were holding their heads, some just had their heads on the desk. A small amount of them though, particularly a blonde and a redheaded girl in a pink skirt, just looked downright furious.

A bit at a loss, Byf turned to the wild history professor, Oobleck, next to him and asked "Is this a common occurrence?" Oobleck pushed his glasses up and took a long swig of his coffee.

"Quitefranklyno,butIheardtheyjustgotbackfromcombatclasseswithone'LordShaxx'andIthinkhemayhavesomethingtodowithallofthis." Byf blinked a few times, trying to process the waterfall of words before it dawned on him.

"Oh that, that would explain it." Byf sighed. He knew the Titan was told several times that these were not the usual Guardians, but more closer to normal humans and to take it easy on them. Apparently, that message only partially made it through that thick helmet around his head.

"_I swear that thing is overheating his brain. Apparently the horn isn't the only thing he's missing."_ The sound of a bell signaled the start of class and the entire room fell silent. Professor Oobleck wasted no time jumping right into introductions.

"HelloclassasyouknowstartingfromtodaywewillhaveaguestlecturerwithusfromtheLastCity."

He stops for a quick sip from his mug

"Iwouldliketoremindeveryonethatyouwilltreatthispersonwithasmuchrespectasheisdueandnowwithoutfurtherdelayallowmetointroduceyournewprofessor,Byf." Byf cleared his throat as Oobleck cleared the podium.

For the occasion, the lore master decided to wear more the more modest robes of a Cryptarch instead of his usual wargear. He wore a dark brown trimmed white robe, accentuated by orange designs on the flap down the front. A brown tunic went underneath along with black pants and simple boots. On his right arm a silver Warlock's bond engraved with the Vanguard's sigil wrapped around his upper arm.

Instead of his usual helmet, he opted for the traditional black and silver hood of the Cryptarchs, embossed with geometric designs along the trim. When he stepped up, the class immediately leaned forward in attention, waiting to see what this Guardian had in store for them considering their experience with the last one.

"Hello, young ones." Byf began, "I can see that your training session with Shaxx went about as well as any of us Guardians would have expected." A mild chuckle resounded through the class at the reminder of the severe beating everyone just received barely twenty minutes ago.

"As your professor has just announced, my name is Byf, I am a Warlock of the Cryptarchs that has been assigned to educate you on the relevant knowledge you will all need to survive in this new galaxy that has been opened up to you all. But before we start, does anyone have any questions?"

He scanned around the room and noticed one hand come up in the back of the class, belonging to a black haired girl with amber eyes. "Yes miss?"

"Belladonna, Blake Belladonna." Blake replied.

"Alright Miss Belladonna, what is your question?" Byf inquired

"You said you are a Cryptarch," Blake began, "What exactly is that?" Byf smiled.

"An excellent question to start with." he answered as he began pacing the front of the lecture hall. "Cryptarch is the nickname given to us Crypto-Archaeologists. We are effectively historians and computer scientists rolled into one." he explained, "Our role is duo, we decrypt engrams Guardians find and bring us, and we are responsible for safeguarding, and cataloguing the information we find, so that it may be preserved for the future generations."

A few more hands came up after the response. "I assume most of you are wondering what an engram is?" Byf mused, as several of the students with their hands up nodded.

"For the sake of time, I'll simply describe it as a way to store matter and data inside a crystal, much like how you would save data to a memory drive, but we will go over that discussion another day. As for today, I believe it would be good to tell you all a story. And that story begins with the Traveler."

As he said that, Byf's ghost materialized over his shoulder, a black and gold trimmed ghost with a projection of a golden tiger's head over it. The ghost turned to face the blank wall in front of the class, and dimmed the lights as it started projecting a video onto the surface.

As the video progressed, the students were mesmerized by the story on how humanity first encountered the Traveler. They were in awe by how this moon-like being terraformed a desolate, dull red planet planet, into a flowering one teaming with life. "The Traveler's Light can breathe life into nothingness." Byf explained, "And with that Light, humanity's progress was all but launched into the infinite." The projection begins showing clips and images of humanity's ventures into the outer cosmos, and the discoveries they made as they did.

"But where there is Light, there is inevitably a shadow that follows." The projection then switched to smoldering human cities and scorched landscapes, Cabal Legions marching across the very planet that was just terraformed, Fallen pirates pillaging and plundering settlements, Vex armies converting planets into machine worlds, and the Hive systematically exterminating everything they came across in a countless horde. Some of the clips were horrifying enough that some of the students averted their gaze and refused to turn around.

"The Great Collapse followed the Golden Age, and the armies of the Darkness arrayed themselves against fragile humanity. What we had spent years building, they destroyed in the matter of weeks." Byf's voice slowly became as hard as steel as he approached this portion of the story. "In the final moments of the war, the Traveler made the ultimate sacrifice." The projection on the screen changed to a clip of a brilliant explosion of light erupting from the Traveler, a light so bright that it nearly blinded everyone in the room.

"With one last stand against the enemy, Humanity was spared, but the Traveler was forced into a deep slumber, of which we do not known when it'd awaken, if ever." The projection switched one last time to a shot of the Traveler, suspended over the Last City taken from orbit. "On that day, the Ghosts were born, and soon so were the Guardians who were to take up the mantle of Humanity's protectors. With that, I will conclude our story for today."

Byf's ghost then turned off the projection, and the lights came back on. Byf breathed a sigh of relief, having made it through all of that. He looked around the room to read the expressions of the students. There was a mixture of shock, awe, and seriousness, all that Byf had come to expect. Allowing them a brief pause, he continued, "So, with some time left, I'm pretty sure that some of you have questions for me, either regarding what you just saw, or anything about Guardians in general, so feel free to ask away." As soon as he finished, nearly the entire room raised their hands.

Byf sighed, "_I should have expected as much."_

000000

Cayde whistled as he lounged in his office, his fingers busy trying to beat the next level of Furious Avian on his scroll, which he took the liberty of spray painting black since white wasn't really his color. Right as he was about to make the final shot, it started ringing and transferred over to the Caller ID screen. "Aw c'mon I was just about to beat that." Cayde groaned as he pressed "Accept" and put it to his ear. "Hello, you've reached the office of Cayde, official ambassador of the Vanguard, and the Last City, even though I was totally tricked into taking this job."

"Hello Cayde, this is Ghira." came the voice on the other end.

"Oh hey Ghira, wassup." Cayde replied as he spun around in his chair. Ghira was about to speak before Cayde cut him off, "Wait wait wait, don't tell me. Let me guess, the White Fang have rejected my offer, threatened war with us, and now you're calling me to help take down the leadership."

"On the contrary," Ghira's voice grated through the call, "Sienna has agreed to speak with you."

"Oh wow; I actually didn't expect that to happen, but hey that's great." Cayde secretly felt a bit dejected that he wouldn't be going into something guns blazing.

"Indeed." Ghira continued, "She's arranged for the meeting to happen tonight. See to it that you get to Menagerie by the afternoon, her personal guard will escort us to her."

"Alright, sounds good, I'll see you soon big guy."

"Take care." and with that Ghira hung up. Cayde took a big sigh.

"You know, you almost sound disappointed." Cayde's ghost, Sundance, said, materializing next to him.

"Well maybe? A bit?" Cayde replied, "I was maybe secretly hoping this would just turn out like a negotiation but with bullets? But nope, I gotta talk to people again."

"The former would be counterproductive." Sundance remarked, "And Zavala would be pretty ticked off if it went down that direction, not to mention a good chunk of the population here as well."

"Yeah yeah, I know I know." Cayde said as he got up and stretched, "But just in case," he reached down and opened a locked desk drawer. Inside was a metal case labeled with a white spades symbol.

"Is it actually that necessary?" Sundance asked floating over the case as Cayde removed its contents and had her store it away.

"Hey, if I wasn't prepared for every potential outcome at a negotiation, what kind of Hunter would I be? Now c'mon we got a ship to catch." the ghost just sighed and flew after Cayde as he strolled out the door.

"Why do I get the feeling this is gonna become a Cayde negotiation?" she commented as they went down the hall.

"Because Cayde sucks at speeches, being diplomatic, and acting like an adult in general." A voice said behind them. Cayde stopped and turned on his heel to face the newcomer. Dressed in a set of worn Eon Tracer armor, a warlock stood in the middle of the hall, hands behind his back. He wore no helmet, instead letting his green eyes meet Cayde's gaze.

"Sorry uh, who are-"

"I am Barloc." The warlock answered, cutting off Cayde's question.

"Ok cut me off that's fine." Cayde muttered.

"The Vanguard has assigned me to be your, associate, in your endeavours here." Barloc spoke as he approached Cayde. "They came to the conclusion that there needed to be a 'grown-up' in the room at all times. Especially when it comes to negotiating with known terrorists." Barloc's voice had some edge in those last few words, making Cayde and his ghost look at each other.

"What? Does Zavala not trust me to handle this?" Cayde asked rhetorically.

"Ikora actually." Barloc replied, "And she told me to tell you, and I quote, 'Remember 'The Reef?'" Cayde groaned at the memory of that incident.

"Oh come on that was one time." Barloc raised an eyebrow. "How was I supposed to know that the word 'deal' was really close to the Fallen word for 'murder'?" Cayde sputtered.

"You're proving my point here." Barloc replied."Now come on; if I heard your call with Ghira correctly, you have a meeting to get to." Barloc walked past Cayde and down the hall with Cayde following in resignation.

The two then proceeded to get a move on, heading out to Cayde's ship. Mid-way, however, did Cayde's ghost notice something off.

"Wait, where's your ghost?" Sundance said out of the blue, materializing and scanning him after having noticed the lack of comms from his ghost. "Actually, hold on, why am I detecting no traces of light on you?!"

Cayde tried to say something, but Barloc preemptively interrupted him.

"I'd rather not talk about it any of it. It's a long, entirely unnecessary story." Barloc said, looking away. "I'm just here to help as much as I can for Remnant and The Last City."

"Now, I think a story involving your lack of light is-"

Barloc whipped his head around to face Cayde, staring him in the eyes with a hard glare. "Is it?"

The two words were enough to send chills down Cayde's mechanical spine. While he knew he didn't have light, Cayde got the feeling this particular warlock was from the dark ages, and didn't even need it to kick his butt. It reminded him a bit of Ikora, even.

He sighed, and relented. "Alright, but don't be pulling any weird Osiris stuff on me. Next thing I know, you're gonna get me stuck in a Vex loop..."

The warlock forced himself to hold down a chuckle, and instead smiled. "Yes, Osiris is quite a workaholic on the Vex. I assure you, however, that I'm not here to do anything detrimental, or disruptive, to our overall goal here." He said, with both a tone of finality and a sternness that was clearly directed at Cayde, who rolled his eyes.

The two then came before the ship. Cayde took notice that the warlock seemed to lack his own ship, and looked to him. A silence fell between the two.

"Aren't you going to answer my question, o omnipotent one?" Cayde asked.

"Shut up and transmat me into the ship with you, there's your answer." Barloc retorted.

00000

The sharp sound of metal slicing through the air echoed through the barren cavern city of Mt. Glenn. This was accompanied by the sound of Grimm screeches and screams, and the occasional sound of metal scraping bone. A distinct hum of void energy filled the air as the Titan Prometheus whirled and hacked his way through the Grimm hordes, Time's Edge leaping with tongues of void light like a great flame around the blade.

The Grimm were countless in number, but that was of little concern to Prometheus, who had stood against far worse. "_Like hacking through a horde of thralls." _He thought to himself as he drove Time's Edge through the chest of a Ursa that just tried to maul him. The job of clearing out Mt. Glenn wasn't particularly difficult or anything, save for the moment when a Taijitu had managed to constrict around Prometheus and tried to crush him. Thankfully, a handy void grenade dealt with that. Rather it was just becoming tedious.

"Well, the good news is that this should be the last of the major hotspots." informed Pandora. "We can probably leave the stragglers to the Huntsmen when they come through."

"They better do a good job, or else I'm probably gonna be back here again." Prometheus decapitated two Beowulves that lunged at him with a single cleave of the sword, their bodies immediately disintegrating from the void flame that ravaged through their forms. Prometheus let out a sigh as he deactivated Time's Edge, the void light receding back into the sword.

"I think that's all of them." Pandora announced, scanning the area.

"I should hope so." Prometheus said as he sheathed Time's Edge on his back. "Now come on, we should go make a report to Cayde and the Council, they'll want to know of our progress." He turned and began to walk back towards the entrance of the caverns before Pandora spoke up.

"Hold on, I'm getting something." she said as she looked around the empty city.

"What is it? More Grimm?" Prometheus asked as his hand went to Time's Edge's handle.

"Not sure, it doesn't feel like it." Pandora said, "I'm detecting an abnormal concentration of Darkness from deeper into the city, but without getting closer I can't say for certain what it is." Prometheus sighed. He wanted to go back and take a break but clearly that wasn't happening.

"Alright let's go check it out." He drew Time's Edge, as he and Pandora headed towards the western corner of the settlement.

As they approached where Pandora had pointed out to be the source of the weird readings, Prometheus could feel something in the air around him. Not an actual thing but more like a suffocating feeling, as if the air itself was trying to crush him. "You feel that?" he asked Pandora as they approached the rock face that marked the end of the city.

"Yeah I do, and we're getting - oh." Pandora's voice cut short when the the entire western wall came into view. Right in front of the Titan and Ghost was a cave that had opened up in the rock. It was pitch black and both of them were getting a creeping feeling just by looking into it. "Why does this feel familiar?" Pandora asked as the two inched closer to the mouth of the opening.

"Well, a pitch black cave inside an abandoned city that's been overrun by Darkness. Sounds like every day for us." Prometheus remarked. He crouched down by the opening and took a look inside.

"I'm detecting movement inside there." Pandora informed Prometheus. "It seems to be a small signal but if it were a Grimm, that amount shouldn't be able to saturate this place with that much Darkness."

"Only one way to find out." Prometheus said as he got up, and cautiously made his way in.

The cave went downwards deep into the Earth. Pandora activated her spotlight, but even it only lit a portion of the way ahead. It was as if the darkness in the cave was swallowing up the light from the Ghost.

As they were about to round a bend in the path, Prometheus suddenly stopped. "You hear that?" he whispered to Pandora. A bone shivering growl echoed around the bend, like that of a Beowulf but this felt far more sinister.

"Prometheus, maybe we should head back and call for backup." Pandora cautioned.

"Hold on, I at least want to take a look." the Titan crept around the corner and peeked out from behind it. The Exo Titan's optics widened at the sight.

The path in the cave led to a sizable open cavern. Stalactites hung from the ceiling, and the walls were ragged and bathed with baleful green light. There was a pool of some sort of black liquid in the ground that looked more like oil than water, but that wasn't what Prometheus was looking at. In the cavern surrounding the pool were five or so Creeps. Or at least they used to be Creeps. What they were now resembled mutated amalgamations of their former selves.

Their usual red eyes and markings were now glowing a putrid yellow green. Crystal spines, and spikes that glowed with the same color jutted from their bodies at random. Their normally bare bone skulls, now seemed to flicker with green flames under the surface, as if ready to burst at any moment. Speaking of bursting, each Creep's body bulged, and pulsated with bulbous growths around their torsos and arms, giving them a hulking and terrifying figure.

"I'm detecting abnormally high Darkness signatures from those Grimm." Pandora quietly informed Prometheus as she carefully peaked over his shoulder. "That would explain the feeling we were getting. But how is this possible?"

"I don't know." Prometheus answered, "We'll find out later, but what I do know now is that we need to take these things out, Now." Prometheus slowly reached for the sidearm he had holstered to his left leg, but as he did, his arm clipped the rock wall. The audible _crack_ echoed through the cave and all of the mutant Creeps turned towards Prometheus's direction.

"Crap." Prometheus admitted before one of the Creeps let out a howl and the other four began lumbering their way towards Prometheus's position.

"New plan, Run." Pandora suggested.

"You don't have to tell me twice!" as Prometheus got up and took off in a sprint. When he did, he could hear the sound of the Creeps scrambling behind him, as they also began chasing after the Titan. Prometheus quickly chucked a void grenade behind him as he leapt, and tumbled out of the entrance of the cave back into Mt. Glenn.

There was a thrum of the grenade exploding into a pocket of void light and then a series of cracks echoed from within the rocky tunnels. This was then followed by a chain of explosions that shook the ground Prometheus was standing on as bright green flashes of light and smoke escaped from the entrance. Prometheus waved his hand in front of him, trying to disperse the smoke issuing from the cave. "What the hell?" he demanded as he tried to fan away the smoke.

"I'm not detecting those creeps anymore." Pandora noted, "It's almost as if they exploded with the grenade."

"Like a bunch of cursed thralls." Prometheus said as he reached the mouth of the cave once more. All of a sudden Pandora screams in alarm.

"LOOK OUT!" Prometheus barely had time to duck as a glowing green form flies out of the cave entrance and tumbles onto the ground behind him. He drew Time's Edge and held it at the ready as the cursed creep lifted itself back up and glared at him. Time's Edge lit up again with void light as the creep screeched and threw itself at Prometheus.

"Hyah!" Prometheus swung Time's Edge in a wide arc, and a wave of void light swept out from the blade, catching the Creep at the apex of its trajectory.

The creep released a explosion akin to a cursed thrall upon getting hit, a blast of putrid green sending Prometheus flying back from the point blank martyrdom. The last thing Prometheus remembered before the darkness took hold was Pandora saying "Preparing for resurrection…"

00000

Omake:Shield Belts

Qrow and Taiyang stood still, waiting in Ozpin's office. The two veteran huntsmen were to get a debriefing on a mission they were going to be sent to by Ozpin. It was then that Taiyang noticed something.

"Hey Qrow," He pointed at his thighs. "Where's your shield belt?"

Qrow raised an eyebrow. "My what?"

"Your deflector belt that we're supposed to be wearing on missions." Taiyang said with a slightly harsher tone of voice, pointing at his own. It looked hi-tech for Remnant standards. "The one the Council ordered to be mandatory on missions?"

"It's all the way over in Patch, basically 6,000 miles away." Qrow then sniffed the air, and interrupted Taiyang, who was preparing to rant again. "Oh god… you're drunk, aren't you?"

"What?!"

"You've been stealing my booze from my secret stash! You've been in my sister's underwear drawer!" Qrow pointed accusingly at Taiyang.

"WHAT!? Qrow I-"

"No wonder why you've been awfully reckless all the sudden. Taking shots right before you go punch some grimm…" Qrow said with narrowed eyes.

"Qrow, she's literally on another continent, that's not possible for me!"

"How do you know it's not possible?" Qrow pressed on. "Probably even sharing it with Ironwood's men, that's how you get it so quick…"

"Qrow, we're talking about the shield belts! We all got the memo from Oz that we need to wear them!" Taiyang sighed, pulling the memo out and giving it to Qrow. "Why are you invading your sister's privacy like that anyhow?" He muttered in annoyance.

"There's no way that bit about the shield belts is true!" He said, reading the paper with eyes still narrowed.

"It is true!" Taiyang drawled out.

"True like that time you set me up on a blind date with a green-eyed monkey barista, who turned out to be a lady boy?"

"How was I supposed to know about that, she had no fur! Just a tail!"

"True like that time you catfished me, by posing as Casey Lee on Soulbook?"

"Well I-" Taiyang face-palmed, having been hit with that one. "Look, I'm serious here. We need to start wearing these belts so we don't get overwhelmed instantly without a chance to breathe." He then turned on the belt, revealing a giant barrier that was almost as bright as a lightbulb. "Plus, too many of us were getting ran down by sparrows and such, while on the way to lunch."

Qrow looked at the man, flabbergasted. "Are you kidding me?! We might as well be going out wearing christmas lights for the Vex and Grimm to notice us!"

"You seriously believe Oz would see an issue; attempt to solve it; and somehow make the situation worse than it already was?" Taiyang deadpanned.

"Holy shit!" Yelled Qrow, startling the man. "Oz would totally do that!"

Taiyang's right twitched, and he removed the shield belt, throwing it off to the side. "ALRIGHT! That's it!" He said, and went to clock Qrow in the face.

Just as the two were about to clash, Ozpin finally came in through the elevator. "Qrow! Taiyang! Where are your shield belts?"

"Told you!" Taiyang said angrily at Qrow, before quickly going over to grab his shield belt.

"You. Can not. BE SERIOUS!" Qrow stated

"The Council and I believe the best way to ensure we all survive on the frontlines," He sipped his coffee. "And to avoid getting ran over at nighttime, is to start adapting the shield technology of Earth."

"Oz, don't you think this idea is not only ridiculous, but also VERY counterproductive to me out in stealth missions?" Qrow tried to convince Oz. "I bet these can't actually stop one of those hobber thingies from burning a hole into our heads!"

"Do you have a better way to avoid getting ran over, then?"

"Ohhhh!" Taiyang let out in realization, catching the two's attention. "I think I know what these are really for! They can help us heal faster, like how those ghosts do it!" Taiyang then held the belt above his head. "I HAVE THE POWER!"

"Shut up Tai." Qrow said, ignoring the glare from him. "Oz, this seems like the worst solution to a problem so mindboggingly simple."

"Well I'm sorry to hear you say that Qrow, but this is for-" A pebble then came through the window, breaking the barrier around Ozpin, and also knocking him out with a blow to the head. The pebble then bounced along the ground, as Ozpin fell. The cup also shattered, leaving Ozpin unconscious in a coffee-stained mess.

Qrow facepalmed, and sighed loudly. "We're all gonna die."

* * *

That's gonna be all for this chapter. And to address it before anyone comments, don't worry, we'll be switching back to Summer's perspective the next chapter. We had to use this one to set up the rest of the story and to also test the waters with our respective writing styles. There's a lot more content coming down the chute so stay tuned. Thanks again for joining us, and we have been Fireteam Nero.


	2. Every Rose Has its Thorns

A/N

**Diluation:Y'all wondered, y'all got your answer. Also, here's Dustin's late A/N.**

**Dustin:Greetings fellow readers, me and the others hope Ptabs gets a swift recovery from his ordeal, but until he returns to us, we will do our best to continue this amazing universe he has created. So be gentle with your reviews.**

**Diluation:Actually don't. I didn't get this lube for nothing…**

**Raunchy joke aside, we've been reading the reviews and PMs as we do this, so just know we've been listening(as well as contacting Ptabs regarding certain bits in the storyline). We're open to any sort of criticism that you may have, but just know we'll still be staying faithful to Ptabs's setup. Which means we'll not take any suggestions for ships, or anything of the sort.**

**So, let's start off the responses to reviews.**

Riebiele:What are your plans regarding D2 and Forsaken?

**Diluation:It's a hot topic of debating among the four of us. I've got ideas for Ghaul that'd change a lot in the Destiny-verse, whilst Dustin and Aquilos have been wanting to stay vanilla story, or at least with less drastic changes.**

**What are these changes to Ghaul I wanted to make you may ask? Well, stories aren't stories if we spoil, so just sit tight and wait. Though that said, do expect a poll in the near future...**

Jagen & Shadow:I love the reference to Byf! He's the best person to go to for Destiny lore!

**Diluation:We've actually decided to make him a character. Ptabs originally planned for him to be a one-off, but we like Byf too much to let it happen.**

**Aquilos: Side note though, don't expect him to be too frequent, but he'll show up every now and then.**

**Diluation:This all said and done, enjoy the story!**

00000

_Blam Blam_

The sounds of Summer's Thorn echoed throughout the target range. Whenever she was in deep of thought she was either fixing a weapon or shooting a weapon on a target range, using a dummy as the target, or an actual enemy. But since Remnant had a shortage of Dregs, non-living targets was would have to do.

_Blam Blam Blam_

_**Glimmer for your thoughts?**_

Summer shivered slightly and felt the dark presence of her unwanted and uninvited guests in her head, Oryx, the former and deceased Taken King.

A long time ago, she helped her friend Eris Morn crafted a very dangerous weapon called, Touch of Malice, one of the components was the still beating heart and essence of Oryx, or what amounted to a heart for a Hive God. She only handled the weapon for a short time before tossing it away, for the second she placed her hands upon the handle, it whispered dark things to her. So she handed it to Cayde who then placed it in a Vault with an assortment of relics that were deemed too dangerous to keep in the wild and way too dangerous to destroy.

When she fought the Vex Axis Mind, Nihileon, she used a fraction of the knowledge gained from Malice, and used it to unlock Thorns full potential. The only downside was that her brief use of the Darkness opened up her mind to Oryx, who has now taken up residence in her mind.

_Get out of my head Oryx._

_**Oh, don't be like that, you should be thanking me.**_

_Thanking you for what? For the destruction of so many displaced Awoken? For the numerous Taken? For…_

_**For warning you on Patch. If it wasn't for my warning, that bullet from that Guardian would have gone right through your head, splattering your brains all across your darling daughters face. Or worse, the bullet going through her head, Hehehe...**_

Summer shook with rage, but instead of shouting out loud, she channeled her anger into the form of her Golden Gun and unleashed the energies onto the Target dummies, incinerating them to ash.

The other students, Atlas soldiers and Guardians there noticed the devastation Summer just unleashed and those closest to her packed up quickly and left.

_Don't ever mention that ever again...wait, what do you mean Guardian?_

_**You thought what you fought on Patch was a smarter than usual Grimm?! Ha! That was a Guardian, disguised as a meer imitation of one of those dark spawns. And not just any Guardian… a Fallen Guardian, wielding one of the Weapons of Sorrow. I sensed that one long before the bullet left the chamber.**_

Summer drowned out Oryx, and shifted through the new info she was given. A Guardian shooting at her and her daughter. Why come after her?

Her musings were cut off by a voice. "Mind if I join you?" She turned and saw Shin Malphur unholstering his signature hand-cannon and a box of Tex-Mechanica ammo.

She gestured to the empty spot right next to her,"Not at all." as Shin setup everything. He quickly loaded his weapon and began shooting. Summer smiled at her relative and began joining him. Soon it became a contest between the two of them to see who can do the most trick-shots with their respective hand-cannons. Each one more elaborate and difficult than the last. Summer jumped into the air, did a one-arm handstand, and even did a gangnam style like dance while shooting. While Shin fired from behind, did one blindfold and even made eight headshots while reading the latest X-Ray and Vav comic. After they had their fun, and their bullets ran out, Shin began packing up to leave.

"I went over your video logs on your fight on Patch. The one Team RWBY thought I was responsible for." Summer turned to him, her attention held. "Saw the Hive weapon your opponent held. Recognized it instantly. That was a Weapon of Sorrow, Necrochasm by the looks of it." Summer cocked her head, confused by the name, but Shin continued on. "I only know of one type of Guardian who would wield those weapons… The Shadows of Yor." He said with a sneer and with such disgust it would've made a Hive Knight recoil.

Summer process it. "Yor? As in Dredgen Yor?" Every Guardian out there had heard the stories about him. A Titan who fell to The Darkness due to his exposure to Hive apocrypha and began killing everything in sight, both Guardians and innocent people. His exploits and later demise served as a cautionary tale to Guardians, both new and old as to what happens when you follow the ways of Darkness.

Shin nodded. "The Shadows of Yor are a group of Guardians who follow his exploits, wield Hive Weapons, and get as close to the Darkness without falling to it. I spent the last few years hunting them down, killing them so that another Dredgen Yor never rises."

Summer immediately noticed a caveat in his plan, since they were Guardians, they had Ghosts, Ghosts resurrect their Guardians, so to kill them permanently, Shin must…

Shin noticed the stunned expression on her face. "No, I have never killed any ghosts," he said answering her unsaid question. "The Shadows of Yor's Ghosts either abandon them or are killed by, as a sign of their devotion."

Summer was horrified at what Shin just told her. Ghosts are friends to their Guardians, their ties to the Light. To kill their own Ghost is to kill a part of themselves.

Shin holstered Last Word and faced Summer. "I know about you unlocking Thorn's full potential. And I know why you did it. I already warned you when you first got that weapon what could happen, now you see the consequences of your actions." He said gesturing to her arm. Summer instinctively grabbed the arm with Hive runes with her other hand.

"I won't tell anyone about this, you will. Your fireteam, your new friends, your daughter deserve the right to know what you did and what you're going through."

He turned to leave. "But if you keep using that gun, and you fall, I'll end you. Permanently." There was no hint of hesitation or wavering in his voice with that last statement, and Summer could tell.

As he walked out of the room he faintly heard Summer whisper, "If I do, I won't stop you."

00000

Summer stomped across the grounds to the Beacon dorms, quietly cursing along the way.  
Stupid zombie asshat living in my head...like some goddamn freeloader...

_**I can still hear you, you know.**_

_SHUT UP!_

Taking a deep breath, Summer collected herself and decided to focus on what she was planning to do. "Alright time to go be a responsible parent." Right as she got to the doors of the dorm, Drei popped out in front of her.

"Hey, I know you want to go see your girls and all, but I got Prometheus on the line asking to speak to you." Summer sighed,

"Put him through." She tapped her foot impatiently, as Drei projected a video call with Prometheus's face popping up.

"Hello Summer." Prometheus greeted.

"This better be important." The huntress replied. "You're keeping me from something important."

"Well sorry, but this is probably going to keep you away for awhile." He said, sending her the footage of the anomalous Grimm in Mt Glenn. Summer leaned in for a closer look at the footage Pandora took of Prometheus's encounter with the mutant Grimm. Her eyebrows furrowed.

"So we got Cursed Grimm or something." She said as the video ended.

"Pretty much." Prometheus mused, "I know it's a lot to ask but can you go investigate more for me? Recon is more your and Shin's thing; and after getting bombed by one of those things I'm not eager to go back."

"And you thought I'd be ok with it?" Summer asked.

"Look, I'll buy you a cake later if you do."

Summer held back the urge to immediately accept, spiting herself for how much she wanted to dive into one right now. "Look, as tempting as it is, I just can't at the moment. I'll give Shin a call though, let him know the situation."

"Even better then. I gotta report this to Cayde and Ozpin, have fun with whatever you're doing."

00000

Ruby and the others walked back to their room with smiles on their faces. They got to know so much, and Yang was glad that Ruby actually held into the knowledge taught to her other than just the battles, and what weapons in the them were used.

Blake and Weiss, being the lovers of books and knowledge immediately loved Byf's class… and the fact that they didn't have to write at supersonic speeds like with Oobleck.

As they got to there door Blake smelled a scent that was… new.

"Someone's here." Blake noted, and immediately tensed. "It doesn't smell out anyone we know, I think."

"Could be Sun or Neptune. They probably just climbed in from the windows again like last time." Yang replied, casually stretching a bit.

"I don't know Yang. Blake said it was different. This person may have broken in." Weiss said, backing up Blake. A sudden realization then hit her. "Wait, how did you not detect those two last time?"

"They masked their scent." Blake quickly answered. "This one happens to stink."

"Oh, come on guys I'm sure it's fine." Ruby stated as she opened the door.

What they saw was a Hunter. A little shorter than the traditional hunters they've seen around the school. Her armor looked odd to say the least. She wore a black and purple fur lined cloak that trailed down to the floor. A lion's lower jaw formed the brace for the cloak around her neck, split apart so each half of the jaw was pinned to each side of her chestplate.

Her helmet had a thin over gold visor, also painted with black and purple decals. A black metal balaclava shaped mask covered the rest of her face.

Her chest armor resembled more like a stripped down piece of Titan armor than typical hunter gear. A significant number of magazine pouches and clips lined the chestpiece, and a gorget neck protector protruded from the top of it. Going lower carrier belt hung from her waist. It was lined with more magazines, and clipped with grenades along with extra pouches for supplies.

On her right leg was strapped a drop leg holster with a sidearm, and a large gut knife. The other leg had what looked like an emergency trauma kit, with a vial of foul looking red liquid attached to it. She wore greaves that were similarly stylized like her chestpiece, painted black and purple and geometrically shaped.

Her gauntlets were angularly shaped and painted like the rest of her armor, with a scroll built into the forearm of the right one. Plated gloves covered her hands and her left hand had a faint blue glow emitting from under her wrist, most likely a hidden arc blade.

"Do we know you?" Blake said with a raised eyebrow. She let her hand be near her weapon, just in case.

"Oh, sorry for not letting you know, we never met before. I'm Daisy." The girl replied.

Getting to the seals of her helmet. The girl now named Daisy removed her helmet. She had a hairstyle like Ruby's, black bangs and red details. Her hair was based as a purple color, and the other bits of detail is colored white. Her eyes were blue and for some reason, glowed like that of an Awoken's.

"Who are you?" Weiss replied.

"I guess I didn't word it correctly." Daisy thought to herself. "Cayde sent me here to socialize with you. He couldn't make it here though, because..."

00000

Cayde was about to get into his ship when his Ghost appeared. She then sighs as she read through Cayde's Schedule.

"Cayde? Aren't you forgetting something?" Sundance said to him

"Ah ummmmmm. Nope, nothing." Cayde answered back with a shrug.

"The message from Lord Saladin, about two people who you know and hold dear?" Sundance pressed on.

"I have many friends, Sundance." Cayde replied back, before muttering. "And enemies…"

"Look at that memo sent to you!" Sundance said

"Is there a problem, Cayde?" Barloc asked on the radio.

"Ohhhhhhhhh….shit I forgot about those two. Ok, uh, sorry Barloc, but scratch that meeting, have Ghira reschedule the it. I have some… family business to take care of." Cayde said on his radio.

The warlock facepalmed. "Of course; I forgot you also had poor planning skills…"

"Yeah, kinda forgot about a meeting with two people Saladin has his eyes on. We're gonna have to get you out of that ship."

"I will." Barloc replied back. "Right after I incinerate all of the junk in here."

Cayde glared at the warlock inside his ship. "You wouldn't."

"I can and I will, if you do not give a move on. Be glad I haven't started already."

00000

"Barloc?" Ruby asked quizzically. "And he's a warlock?"

"That sounds too good to be true." Yang said gleefully. "Yet at the same time, I so badly want to believe it…"

Daisy nods. "It is his name. Though I wish he wasn't actually serious about burning his stuff."

"Really? Oh boy." Yang thought with a grin on her face. She didn't say anything, but there was a shared feeling that she was thinking up puns involving the warlock.

Daisy shrugs it off. "Its ok, I guess. If anything, Cayde probably has backups for backups."

"Still, it's kind of rude." Weiss commented, crossing her arms. "Why didn't he do it another way? I wouldn't do that just to get my way."

"How did you get in our room, anyway?" Blake asked.

"Cayde's Ghost Sundance quickly gave me something called a scroll, as well as the password. I don't make the orders, just follow them unless they conflict with morality. Besides, I trust Cayde. I just don't like this awkward situation he put me in, by sending me here to this cramped room."

"Also, who's the closet hog with all the white dresses?" Daisy said, mildly annoyed at the inconvenience.

"Hey!" Weiss let out with a pout.

"You seem to have Cayde's witty tongue too." Blake stated as a matter of factly.

"So, how long are you staying with us?" Yang asked, taking a seat on one of the beds and looking at her scroll. She then muttered to herself a little, before typing something.

"Just for the night. Cayde told me he'll get me a better cramped room tomorrow morning." Daisy replied

"Oh, that's not so bad." Ruby said, a frown on her face.

They soon all started to take care of their own business after that brief exchange. Daisy started doing maintenance on her weapons. The other girls took turns taking a shower, while Blake engrossed herself in the latest volume of Ninjas of Love. Ruby read through her weapons magazines and comic books, Weiss was studying, and Yang took her shower first. The silence was awkward and heavy. So awkward and heavy, that Ruby decided to try getting to know the new girl more.

"So Daisy. You wear Guardian armor, yet you have no Ghost. Why is that?" Ruby asked, curious as to why Daisy is wearing such high-grade armor.

"I'm a Guardsman. We're just ordinary people who have their light unlocked, and are trained by a Guardian to use it like them." Daisy replied as she was wiping off excess CLP (Cleaning, Lubricant, Protection) from her hand cannons bolt carrier group.

"Who trained you then?" Blake said while not looking up from her book, uninterested in the newcomer.

"Cayde, and a little bit by Summer Rose." Is all Daisy was able to let out, before Ruby interrupted her.

"Wait you know my mom?" Ruby let out in surprise.

"Wait, Summer's your mom?" Daisy paused, taking the realization in, as she looked at Ruby. "...Well that explains why I almost called you Aunt Summer. You both look way too alike. It's actually kind of odd that the only difference between you two are your heights." Daisy thought, as she noted the differences between the two.

"How did you meet mom?" Yang asked, getting out of the bathroom with her pjs on.

"My Grandmother invited her for dinner." Daisy replied earnestly.

"That's not so bad." Ruby said with a shrug.

"After breaking down our most of the neighborhood doors trying to find my Grandfather."

Blake and Weiss sweatdropped at that.

"Ok, maybe it's kinda bad?" Ruby said sheepishly, not expecting that to have happened.

"How did they meet?" Weiss asked.

"Odd thing is. No one would tell me. Grandfather was silent and never wanted to talk about it, and every time Summer tries to her Ghost cuts her off. Apparently it was so bad that the Vanguards deemed it a top secret. Though it was due to her that a lot of rules were added to the now very long list of 'acceptable behavior'. One of our floors in the tower is still covered in lava apparently."

"Why am I not surprised?" Weiss and Blake thought together in annoyance.

Though as the girls went back to there do own things and get there showers done, Daisy noticed four hive runes glowing on the other side of the wall she was facing. The green sickly energy was radiating off of whomever had the runes grafted to their skin. She then put her hand cannon back together, as her eyes followed the runes while not moving her head. Then it stopped at the door, and a knock was heard.

She loaded a fresh magazine into her weapon as Ruby decided to open the door, only to find Summer standing there. Daisy could see the runes coming through Summer's gauntlet. She started to feel nauseous a bit, but managed to maintain a stoic look as Summer hugged Ruby tightly. She smiled to see Summer hasn't changed one bit. Summer then looked in Daisy direction but she gave Summer a concerned look. Summer sighs as she realized she caught on.

"Hey Daisy, it's been long time since I saw you." Summer said as she got out of the hug she gave Ruby.

Daisy got up from the desk she was at, and holsters her hand cannon, giving a radiant smile.

"Too long apparently." Daisy replied, her eyes flickering towards Summer's right forearm. She then looked at Weiss and Blake.

"Come on girls let's give the three family members some privacy." Daisy said

"What why?" Weiss asked, crossing her arms.

"It seems Summer has something personal to say to her kids. At least give her the courtesy of privacy." Daisy replied back, a stern tone to her voice.

"You'll get no complaints from me." Blake said as she got up, and walked out the door, Weiss following suit.

"Good luck Summer." Daisy said, as she closed the door behind them.

00000

Shin had just gotten aboard his jumpship earlier when Summer's call came in. The veteran hunter would admit he didn't expect to hear from her so soon, which either means the talk did not go well or there was another issue.

"Hello Summer," he answered "I'm gonna be honest this was sooner than I expected. Was it that bad?" Summer shook her head on the other end.

"It's not about that. It's something else. Prometheus found something Mt. Glenn." Shin's expression became stoic at the news.

"Something?" He inquired.

"Here just take a look at this, see what you make of it." Shin watched as a monitor on his ship displayed the same clip Prometheus showed Summer, a hive corrupted creep detonating on death and blowing up in a sickly green flash of light.

"I see." His voice betrayed no emotion, but Summer could tell he was now concerned. "I'll go take a look see what I can dig up."

"You think those Shadows you mentioned are involved with all this?"

"I'd bet Last Word on it they are." Shin replied. "I'll stay in touch, let you know what I find."

"Thank you Shin, good luck."

"Don't need it." Shin replied as he hung up. Clint materialized and punched in new coordinates for the jump ship, towards Mt Glenn, while Shin rubbed his temples in cold contemplation.

_Alright you damnable fools, you made your move, my turn now. _

00000

"Mom what's this about?" Ruby asked as Summer gazed out the window in the back. Summer gave a sigh. She was not a fan of delivering bad news, and Yang and Ruby being her daughters that she just reconnected with did not help her stress in this situation.

"Ruby, Yang you might want to take a seat for this one." Ruby plopped down on the rug in a cross legged position while Yang pulled up a chair. Summer Rose turned around and knelt down in front of both girls, carefully thinking about her next words. Finally settling on what to say, she unclasped Thorn's holster at her side.

Ruby's eyes widened as Summer held up Thorn to her. Ruby had gotten some glances at the weapon before, but her mom didn't really show the gun properly to her until now.

Yang's response was similar to Ruby's, except she was a bit more thinking about how the gun did not match her stepmother's personality and aesthetic at all.

Both girls, however, could feel the bad vibes the hand cannon was giving off, like a fog that hung over their heads. Ruby thought she could vaguely see a black mist issuing from the gun; and some kind of whispering?

"This is Thorn." Summer began. "I acquired this gun under exceptional circumstances, and it has gotten me out of many sticky situations since."

"Ok, but what is so important about this gun that you needed to tell us?" Yang asked. Summer took another deep breath and continued.

"Because the gun's both a blessing and a curse." Summer replied. "It was created by an infamous guardian after falling to the seduction of darkness. It is a weapon of hate and malice, meant to kill anything it points at." Ruby's mouth went slack jawed. Her mother, someone she had always thought to be a paragon of good and justice was running around with a weapon like this?

"Why would you use that gun then?" Ruby asked. "If it's so evil why keep it?"

"Because if it weren't for this particular gun, I would have not survived many of the fights I've been in, nor would I have been able to defeat the Vex God that attacked Remnant." Summer paused as both girls digested what she just told them. "And now I am paying for the price of my actions." Summer said as she unstrapped her right gauntlet and began rolling up the sleeve. Both Ruby and Yang leaned in as a faint glow from the hive runes in her skin issued out from under the fabric, before the full engraving came into view.

Yang and Ruby's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as they looked at the hive runes carved into their mother's skin.

"Mom what is this?..." Ruby stammered in disbelief as she reached to touch the runes.

"My price…" Summer responded. "The more I use this gun, unrestrained, the more it eats away at my soul and spirit. Eventually it will completely take over me, and I too will fall to the same power that that infamous guardian fell to so long ago."

"Does it hurt?" Ruby asked as she touched the runes on her arms. They felt hot to the touch, not like the warmth of love, more like the searing blade of a knife.

"Not particularly." Summer replied. Yang walked forward to take a closer look as well. The brawler's instincts flared up when she looked at the carvings. Even without any knowledge of what the Hive are, she could feel the malicious aura that emanated from the runes. It was almost enough for her semblance to flare up instinctively in response.

"But why tell us?" Yang asked, "What does any of this mean?" Summer sighed.

"It was Shin's belief, that you two deserved to know more than anyone else about the burden I am carrying with me. I can guess his reasoning too. He wanted me to show both of you what it means to be a protector of humanity, the sacrifices that need to be made for the greater good. Shin never liked fairy tales, saying that real life doesn't always end with a happy ending. The princess and the kingdom may be saved, but the knight in shining armor might not be there to see it. And sometimes even if he is alive at the end, he might arrive just in time to save the corpses." Summer could feel the tears building at the corners of her eyes as she spoke. She could tell this was a lot for her girls to try to process, telling them that the universe is not as kind as they had thought, telling them what it costed to protect everyone else.

"In the end though, I will not regret what I have done." Summer gave a slight smile. "I will know that my actions were for the benefit of so many others, people I might never have seen or known, and they might never know me. But that does not matter because I would have performed my duty to my fullest, and allow my actions to be my legacy." Summer looked up to see tears streaming down Ruby's face and Yang hugging her around the shoulders. Without a word, Ruby threw herself onto Summer, dragging Yang with her making it a giant group hug. Summer felt Ruby rest on her shoulder, and she heard the small sobs that echoed from her mouth. She sighed and gave a slight smile, for she had not felt something like this in a very long time. "There there," she whispered as she patted Ruby on the back. After a bit, Ruby's sobs died down and she pulled back to look at her mom in the face.

"Mom…" Ruby began, her eyes still wet. "Please, promise me that you won't ever resort to this again unless you absolutely have to." Summer suddenly found herself on the receiving end of the puppy eyes she was famous for, albeit a much sadder, wetter, and more irresistible version of it.

_Oh god_ she thought to herself before settling on an answer. How could she say no to that?

"I promise, Ruby." Summer replied.

"Please, I can't lose you again." Ruby stammered.

"I know Ruby, I know." Summer gave her daughter and stepdaughter another hug, feeling a warmth in her heart, a feeling of "home" she hadn't felt in a long time. After a few minutes when all tears were shed and all feelings were expressed Summer got up and stretched her kinked muscles from kneeling for so long.

"You know now that I think about it," Yang began, "mom's pretty badass for going through all this and be able to still be kicking." Summer chuckled.

"What can I say, I try my best." Summer replied with a shrug. "Now I have a suggestion for you girls."

"Hm?" Both Yang and Ruby perked up.

"Let's go kill this downy mood with some cookies!" She announced, pumping her fist in the air.

"Yes!" Ruby exclaimed practically leaping to her feet. "To the kitchens!" She practically disappeared out the door in a shower of red petals as Summer and Yang chased after her.

00000

In the caverns Mt. Glenn, Shin made his way through the empty streets of the cave city, his every footstep echoing off the decaying crumbling buildings. "This place reeks." He thought to himself as he stepped over a skull of some poor unfortunate soul who didn't make it out of here.

"We're almost there." Clint informed Shin as they approached the back wall of the city. Shin rounded a corner and saw the mouth of the cave Summer had sent him coordinates for. Shin's nose wrinkled under his helmet. He could smell the hive energy coming from inside the cave.

_"Whatever they got in there, it's potent."_ With one hand on Last Word and one hand grasping his knife, Shin crept into the cave. After following the narrow tunnels for a bit, he came upon the same area Prometheus had found earlier that day, except there were no Creeps or enemies around. The black pool of mysterious goo still sat undisturbed in the center of the chamber. Clint materialized next to Shin and analyzed the black substance.

"I can't figure out what it is." Clint said as the ghost's fins spun about. "It's almost like a liquid form of Darkness."

"Anything else?" Shin asked kneeling down to inspect the liquid. He carefully dipped the tip of his knife into the pool and pulled it back up. The black viscous liquid dripped slowly down the tip of the blade but did nothing out of the ordinary.

"Shin." called Clint. Shin got up and turned his attention to the Ghost. "I'm detecting something in the middle of the pool, it's giving off strong hive readings. I think that's the source of all this."

"Good to know, let's see what it is then." Shin replied as he took off his gloves.

"Are you gonna-"

"Worth a shot, this is the best idea I have unless you want to go take a swim." Shin furrowed his brow and began channeling light to his palm. A silver glow began to gather and engulf his hand, lighting up the dark chamber. Shin's eyes began to glow under his helmet as well as a ray of silver light extended from his hand to the black pool. When the light made contact, the liquid parted to the sides of the pool as if fleeing from the light.

Slowly, the black substance parted, revealing a glowing green stone in the bottom of the stone pool. The light faded as Shin leaned down and picked up the stone. It was a jagged elongated rock, no bigger than his fist. On it was carved hive runes of indeterminate meaning, glowing orange and sickly green. Clint flew in closer for look.

"This looks like some sort of keyrune, I think it was infecting that pool and the Grimm that were around it."

"Noted." Shin replied as he threw it into the air. In a flash, he drew Last word and fired three shots into the rock, shattering it into pieces.

"So what's next." Clint asked as Shin began to leave.

"What always comes next." Shin replied as he walked back out of the cave. "We hunt."

00000

Meanwhile underneath Salem's fortress in the Grimmlands, a man in a black coat marked with hive runes hunched over a cane of twisted metal as he peered into the glowing orb of a Seer. His prosthetic eye clicked, and whined as it adjusted itself against the images the Seer was showing him. His left hand, a hive acolyte's arm forged from bone and metal, clicked against the cane as he tapped his three clawed fingers against its shaft. "Interesting, very very interesting." he muttered to himself in a raspy voice.

"Something caught your attention, doctor?" came a voice from behind the man. He turned to see Dredgen Vena standing in the doorway of his underground chambers.

"The experiment was a success." Doctor Merlot replied, gesturing at the Seer. "I am amazed by what you have provided me. Its power is beyond anything I could have created in a lifetime."

"So your little toys worked then?" Vena asked as she entered the room.

"As well as I could have expected." Merlot replied. "They were mere lab rats, soon my mistress and I will create a perfect specimen one that will terrify the world to its core." he paused a moment. "There is one complication, however."

"Complication?" Vena asked raising an eyebrow.

"The hunter you informed me of, Shin Malphur. He is onto our trail." Merlot reported as the Seer showed Shin entering the Mt. Glenn cave. Vena simply chuckled.

"Oh good Doctor, fear not. I have known Shin Malphur would find us out eventually, and luckily, I am prepared."

"Prepared?" Merlot inquired, "With what?"

"Don't you worry about that doctor, just see to it that your experiments go well. Shin Malphur is my prize." With that Dredgen Vena turned and left. As she walked away she tapped the side of her helmet, turning on the communicator. "Get in touch with Zyre Orsa." she ordered to whoever was on the other end "Tell him, an old friend is here."

That's it for this week fellow guardians and huntsmen. As usual leave a follow, comment, or straight up DM us with questions. Seriously, we love feedback, at least I do. Anyway, come back next week for the next installment, and we have been Fireteam Nero - Aquilos


	3. Cayde-6 Ace Negotiator

**Hello everyone, Fireteam Nero is back again with a new update. We would like to apologize for this one taking a while but we were busy with stuff in real life. Anyway a few responses to the comments you guys have left.**

thechurro98: Do you plan on including certain... revelations regarding Shin Malphur and the Shadows of Yor that came with the lore books in Joker's Wild?

**Aquilos: If we didn't, we wouldn't have mentioned Zyre by name ;)**

Rider09: i hope Summer actually does not Break this Promise!

**Fireteam: We can neither confirm nor deny that she will or won't.**

**And thank you to ptabs0101 for your support. We hope to keep living up to your expectations. Anyway enough of us talking, back to the story you all came for.**

* * *

Cayde sat in his ship, reaching Mistral within good time. Luckily, the coordinates Sienna Khan gave Ghira Belladonna were actually true to the last dot. Now all that was needed was to land, and get face to face with the boss herself. But what was odd was that Sienna had "demands". Surely after that letter Ghira sent to her would have had something along the lines of "Till death due your soul partith your way"? But he just left it at that as he landed on a dirt runway on a hidden airfield.

As he felt his ship land, he unbuckled himself out if the pilots seat and looked back to see a…. sickly green Ghira Belladonna, and a rather annoyed Barloc. Much to his soon crushed amusement, he looked further back to his destroyed collection of miscellaneous collectibles. Burnt magazines, trash, and even some photo albums containing pictures of Summer's best pranks. The exotic and legendary guns were, thankfully, untouched, and he breathed a sigh of relief at the fact. _Guess he ain't that monstrous after all. Still wish those Playboy magazines I had weren't burnt though... _Cayde thought morosely to himself.

Ghira immediately ran outside to barf out the lunch his wife forced him to eat. Kali forced Ghira to eat extra servings to make sure he didn't need to eat when he comes home. Sadly she didn't pack the antacids, because with how Cayde flies, he seriously needed one now.

Barloc, on the other hand, didn't even bat an eye, as if this was just a normal drive to him. He did, however, notice the expression on Cayde's face. "Is there a problem Cayde?"

Cayde looked him in the eyes. "You just had to go for the magazines, didn't you?"

"They're garbage." Barloc stated as a matter of fact. "I care not for a gallery display of such nature." As the three transmatted from the ship, Ghira quickly ran to the bushes to throw up. A few seconds later he came back from the bushes.

"Do you always fly like a hooligan in that thing!? You could have made me drown in my own vomit!" Ghira furiously shouted at Cayde.

"No, it's just that I really want to get this done and go home." Cayde said without a blink of an eye.

"Fear not Mr. Belladonna, it's precisely for reasons like that that I'm here." Barloc stated as he glared at Cayde.

Cayde, who remembered Barloc's words from the schools hanger, just sighs in annoyance.

"Seriously! I'm a damn full grown man! I can handle myself fine!" Cayde said in protest.

"Remember the Reef..." Barloc whispered into Cayde's ear.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Cayde grumbled back in response, as they came before the White Fang hideout.

While a lot of the White Fang members wore the same uniform as those in Vale, their masks show as to what branch of the White Fang lieutenants they served to throughout the four kingdoms, with each and every one of them having a distinct variation to them. Vale's branch consisted of the beowulf masks, Vacuo's branch the boarbatusk mask, Mistral's branch the beringel mask, and Atlas's branch the taijitu mask.

The guards in front of them, however, wore the most important mask out of the four. Those working directly under Sienna wore sphinx masks, and were considered the toughest of the White Fang, along with being the highest honor compared to being promoted to captain in any of the other branches.

"Are you Cayde-6 of the Vanguard?" asked a white fang guard.

Cayde puffed his chest out, and put his hands on his belt.

"Yes, I am the great Cayde-6. Now please take me to your leader?" Cayde asked.

The second one nods.

"Please follow us." the second Guard said. They watched them walk down a dimly lit path that wove through the trees.

"Well that's not threatening at all." Cayde said, as Barloc and Ghira simply stared at him.

"What?" Cayde, confused as to why they're giving them those looks. Ghira and Barloc continued to look at Cayde, as if it was obvious what they were thinking. Cayde then sighs.

"Fine" Cayde said, throwing his hands into the air in exasperation. They started to walk down the path as well, and eventually they came to a building, the guards opening the door. As they they entered the odd structure, they came into a sort of waiting area before the throne room doors.

"Huh, never thought I would meet Emperor Palpatine." Cayde jokes to himself a little too loudly.

"Shut it." Barloc chided, unwilling to start up trouble already.

They were then approached by a Faunus with a pale complexion, a tuft of black hair and a komodo dragon tail wearing what can only be described as monks robes.

"Welcome Chieftain Ghira of Kuo Kuana, Cayde-6 of the Vanguard, and guest." he said gesturing to each in turn.

"Hey…" Barloc mutters back callously in response.

The monk continued. "I am Shen, member of the White Fang and Chamberlain to High leader Khan." He then gestured to a table to his right.

"Before meeting with High leader Khan, protocol dictates that guests must relinquish all weapons both on your person, " he gave a respectful smile. "Security reasons, I'm sure you all understand."

Cayde just brought his hands up in the air and started to unhook his blades from their sheaths on his arms and laid them on the table. He then reached into his boots and brought out a few more blades and a few side arms from their concealed holsters on said boots. Sundance reluctantly flew over to the table and gave a sigh, "You guys might want to take a seat." she said looking at Cayde remove the last knife from his person, "This could take a while…"

00000

The small table was completely swamped with weapons of all kinds. Assault rifles, scout rifles, hand cannons and even a few rocket launchers. Ghira had his eyes wide with the many weapons that can arm a small militia, the guards and Shen stared at them hungrily, while Barloc just rolled his eyes at the display. Cayde then placed the last of his weapons on the table and it started to creak under the weight of the four foot pile.

After unloading his weapons, Shen gestured to the great doors for the three representatives. As Cayde, followed by his two compatriots went towards the doors he said, "Don't touch my pile!" to the one of the guards that was inspecting the hoard, as they approached the doors leading to the throne room.

Sienna Khan could be described as many things. Cold, unwavering, ruthless, and strong. Years of leading the White Fang had made her a iron willed ruler, willing to use any means to make sure she came out on top. It had been effective for most of her career, which is why the prospective meeting with this "Guardian" made her ashamedly admit that she was a little afraid. For the first time in a while, Sienna found herself staring at a much bigger cat, with far sharper fangs. A position she was not used to.

However, she could not let such a petty fear cloud her judgement. She had to appear strong for the sake of herself and her cause. Settling herself down on her throne, and putting on her best poker face, she nodded at the guards at the door, indicating to them that she was ready. Both guards wordlessly pulled opened the double doors to the waiting area, allowing the trio outside to enter. _And now, a war with words. _Sienna thought to herself.

Cayde strolled into the throne room, flanked by Ghira and Barloc. The first thing he noticed was how nice the room was. _Oh man, I gotta get the number of their interior decorator. _The second thing he noticed was Sienna herself. Cayde had read the reports on her, but nothing could have prepared him for how she looked in real life. Cayde was just faintly aware that he was staring a bit slack jawed before a smack in the arm from Barloc snapped him out of it. Ghira spoke up first.

"Greetings, Sienna. I bring with me the Vanguard representative Cayde-6." He introduced with a slight bow.

"It's been a long time, old friend." Sienna replied. Her eyes then moved to Cayde. "So you're the famed Cayde-6?"

"That's me, in the flesh, well uh metal?"

"Charming, but you are aware that it was quite rude to make me delay this meeting by more than a few mere hours, yes?" Sienna had a slight smirk as she asked the question. _You started this meeting on the backfoot already._

"Well sorry about that, official duties and all." Cayde replied, as Barloc narrowed his eyes at Cayde's obvious lie. "But now I am here, and I'll keep this brief for the both of us." Sienna raised an eyebrow. Cayde mentally prepared himself to go into "Business" mode. "Look, I doubt you aren't aware of the giant Vex invasion that happened recently, correct?"

"I am aware of the incident, and more." Sienna replied gesturing to a Vex Minotaur husk that was pinned to the pillar closest to her throne. "This one, along with several of what you called, Harpies, strolled right through my throne room to kill me. Several of my guards and fellow warriors perished before I dealt with it.

Cayde's respect for Sienna went up a bit.

_Note to self: don't underestimate her._

"I see that you didn't take it apart to study it or sell it on the black market. Just a piece of a vex unit is worth at least 10,000 Lien." Cayde remarked. "And at least three times as much for a whole one."

"I didn't become High Leader based on my good looks. The risks far outweighed the benefits. Plus it's a good trophy to show those who are willing to join our cause."

Barloc coughed loudly enough for Cayde to hear.

"Right," he said getting back on track. "Unfortunately for you, me, and the rest of this planet, the murder bots are only the tip of whatever else might be coming at us."

"Indeed." Barloc added. "The Cabal are already attempting to peer into Remnant itself, as well as the Fallen houses. And don't get us started on the Hive. Many defense measures must be setup by then, of which we'll need the time, and perhaps the assistance to make."

"And what assistance do you seek from me?" Sienna said as she leaned back into her throne. "To call every single White Fang operative to cease their activities, lay down their arms and assist you in building these defenses? And in exchange you release our brothers and sisters in arms that you have imprisoned after the Breach and give us the equality that we've yearned!" She laughed dryly and narrowed her eyes. "No no, my kind have heard similar promises before in time's past. The last time that happened we were given Menagerie, a no-mans land with only 10% habitable living space!"

"This is more serious than you think, Ms Khan." Barloc reminded. "These alien races are nothing like the Grimm, as the Vex have shown. They're far more intelligent, and will do worse to Remnant than a few bigots who'll stick to their thoughts of racism. If you do not wish to assist, at least let us engage a truce until we're all safe from the threats to come."

Sienna gritted her teeth in frustration. As much as she hated to admit it, the White Fang did suffer quite a blow during the invasion. Three more invasions could not only mean the end of Remnant, but of the White Fang itself.

"We'll have to talk about that more later. Speaking of those prisoners you've captured during the Breach, specifically those loyal to Adam…" The tiger gritted her teeth as she spoke his name. "Do whatever you want with them. Throw them into the worst prison you have, let them serve as an example for those who side with him and against me."

_Oh I have just the prison in mind for them._ Cayde thought to himself, while Barloc cringed a bit. His helmet covered his reaction up though.

"Mistress Khan, might I suggest you take it easy on them?" Barloc inquired, as to build some moral grounds for the unspoken faunas. "Some of them may have just been too blind to see how horrible he was, or been unable to leave that branch of the White Fang out of fear."

"All the more reason." Sienna replied harshly. "Those who were blind were idiots, the ones who stayed out of fear were cowards, and everyone else is a traitor. If I kept such men in my employ, they would only be a hindrance to the White Fang later on. I did not build this organization up by being lenient towards my enemies, Guardian."

Barloc grimaced under his helmet. _With the way things are going, I may have to sacrifice those innocent lives… she seems set on thinking they're all traitors._

"Then maybe it's time you start." Cayde piped up, much to the surprise of the entire room. "Look I've read about you, your organization, and the entire history of the Faunas on Remnant, yeah surprising I know." Cayde said towards a slightly stunned Barloc, given that books were never his thing. "I understand better than anyone that usually you just wanna to grab a gun and solve your problems, and trust me, I would love to join you on that. And maybe in the past that would have been fine. But not anymore."

Barloc stared at Cayde in surprise, not expecting to hear such maturity out of the Hunter Vanguard, before snapping himself out of the stupor. He looked back to Sienna. "By fear, I meant fear for others, Sienna. Some faunus had been revealed to have been held hostage, or put into a inescapable situation, and only kept alive by a deal struck by the White Fang branch. Imagine what lives would've been lost, should those deals be broken? What lives may have been ruined?"

Sienna seemed to pause, and Barloc pressed on knowingly with the assistance of Cayde, intending to have her see reason. "An example of such is Tukson, a local bookstore owner who made a deal with the White Fang branch in Vale. He was found dead in his store after attempting to defect from Adam's branch, by assassins of which we can safely presume were sent by Adam." Sienna slumped back into her chair, her eyes closed, head resting on her fist.

"I… I knew Tukson." Sienna sighed. "He was a friend when we were children. I did not know of his passing or even his involvement."

"Do you see reason then Mistress Khan?" Barloc asked, "If Tukson was just one, think of how many more there could be? We came here today with the intention of figuring out how to establish peace and prosperity for all of Remnant's inhabitants, and I believe that it can start by fixing what has gone wrong with the White Fang itself." Barloc waited for Sienna's response. She took a deep breath and then sat back up, eyes renewed with vigor and purpose.

"When I first took this chair, I wanted us to be a protection force for suffering faunus. I believed that if force was necessary, then it should be used, but only as a response. What Adam has done is turn us from a shield into a sword, and the snake had managed to keep me blind with his false reports and honeyed words. However, that ends here today."

Sienna got up from her throne and approached Cayde and Barloc. "You say you come with the intention of establishing peace, and to that you have my agreement." Cayde gave a slight smile at her words.

"Alright!" He cheered while Barloc just stared daggers into his soul.

"But, you also mentioned that I should show compassion, leniency, towards Adam's faction. What would you suggest I do?"

"My suggestion is we scrub it clean." Barloc replied. "We figure out who was a victim and ensure their lives and safety. As for the irredeemable or the truly guilty, well, Cayde has a solution for that."

"Yeah, they'll get to know my friend Variks very very well." Cayde had a wicked gleam in his eye when he said that.

"And the Guardians will support any endeavor to deal with the faunas discrimination that runs rampant in this world?" Sienna inquired.

"Within reason, but yes, we will." Barloc assured her.

"Trust us on that one." Cayde added, "I'm a robot, my boss is a blue skinned juggernaut, and the Variks I mentioned? He's got four arms. If there's one thing we've already dealt with in our world, it's discrimination. No time for such things when the enemy is always at your doorstep." Sienna smiled at Cayde's words.

"If that is so, then let us proceed onto more important matters. Now then what-" Sienna's words were cut short by the door to her throne room flying open and,

"Adam?..." Cayde, Ghira, and Barloc spun around and widened their eyes in shock. Before them standing in the doorway, was a very much alive, and very not decapitated, Adam Taurus.

"Hello, Sienna." Adam began walking towards the group while everyone was still too stunned to speak. Ghira found his words first.

"This is impossible, you're dead!"

"_Cayde something's wrong." _Sudance's voice echoed in Cayde's mind.

"_Yeah I can tell, dead guy walking here." _Cayde replied as he saw Adam approach closer and closer. Then, a glint in his hand caught Cayde's eye. "Look out!" Cayde shouted as Adam swiftly threw the dirk hidden in his hand, right at Sienna Khan.

"NO!" Cayde spun and watched as Ghira leapt sideways in front of Sienna, the dirk entering his shoulder right underneath the collarbone. Before anyone could react, Cayde felt his hand close around a familiar grip Sundance had just transmatted into his hand. He swiftly brought Ace to bear.

Shots rang out as Cayde fired the Ace of Spades at Adam, who rolled to the side with unnatural agility to dodge the bullets. He was fast, but Cayde was no pushover. Fanning the hammer, he emptied the last six shots from the chamber in a fan pattern, too fast for Adam to avoid. The bull faunus gave a shriek as four .50 bullets entered his arm, torso, and leg, the force of the shots sending him tumbling towards the wall. He hit his body hard against the back wall and slumped down. Barloc and Cayde approached his crumpled form.

"What is the meaning of this?" Barloc demanded as he approached. "How are you here?"

"_Cayde I'm detecting hive magic from-" _Sundance was cut short as Adam began to laugh.

"Hehehe... you guys are good." The Guardians watched as Adam began to seemingly dissolve into a black mist, revealing the form of a girl with red eyes and mint green hair instead.

"I should've figured you of all people would come here, Emerald Sustrai." Barloc said, forgetting about Ghira, as Sundance transmatted a Sol Edge into his hand. He recalled this individual from the many files and reports Summer's Ghost, Drei, downloaded from Adam's Scroll, and shared with the rest of the higher-up Guardians. "Know that I will show no mercy for what you and Mercury did to Tukson, should you continue the way you're going."

"Oh really?" Emerald slyly smiled as her body started to dissolve.

Cayde started to panic as it looked like she was nothing but a fake, while Barloc held his sword in guarding position, creating a solar barrier as he cautiously watched the smoke. The smoke rushed to Barloc, reforming into Emerald as she bounced off the barrier, and firing with her revolvers at the two. Cayde's shield took a small hit, while Barloc's barrier kept himself safe. She then turned around and used her bayonets and slashed at two guards, causing deep gnashing of flesh and blood to splatter on the ground.

As she opened the door, the duo tried to rush her down, but were stopped by her words. "Bold of you to pursue me when your friend is still back in there." She then ran out, the two guardians quickly talking between each other, and splitting up, Barloc staying to stabilize Ghira.

Multiple doors opened from where she was, guards pooling out as she mag dumped her revolvers cylinders, and quickly inserted new ones in when they were emptied. Breaking off into a sprint, she started to fire at the swarm of guards who rushed her down. The first three guards shot at her, attempting to take advantage of her magless status. Sadly she spun around throwing off their aim. She then fired three shots into their heads. Causing them to fall backwards due to the bullets force. Four more came out using automatic rifles but instead of dodging the rounds fired at her. She just used her weapons blades to deflect them.

The guards in diamond formation started to run backwards. Two providing cover fire while two others retreated to a more dependable position. That still didn't stop Emerald as she jumped over the two guards providing cover fire, and shot both of them in the head. When she spun around in the air, she fired two more rounds at the other two faunas, shots embedding themselves in the chest of the two. As she landed, two more guards came out. She tried to fire, but her revolvers cylinders were empty. So she switched to her chain bayonets, and using her momentum, swung the blades forward into the neck's of the guards.

She then pulled the bayonets back causing the guards to fall over dead, but also made their weapons fly in the air. She then used a dead guard's head as a springboard, and grabbed the weapons out of the air. Aiming at her sides she unloaded into several doors that more guards were pouring out of, only to be cut down or have to stay behind cover due to Emeralds shots. As she ran out of the white fang base she immediately got onto her com link, immediately calling Cinder.

"_Emerald, report." _Cinder said on the other end

"The mission was a failure. Our planned date was a day too late. Cayde, a Guardian I can't identify, and the chieftain of Menagerie was there. Though the Chieftain should be in critical condition" Emerald bit her lip, as Cinder narrowed her amber eyes on the other end.

"_We will discuss this later. For now, pray that the Chieftain dies." _Cinder replied before cutting the comms.

Emerald knew this failure could see her punished. She honestly hoped that her unintended target does die. When she was a good enough distance away she hit the GPS tracker on her, hailing for evac. As she sat down next to a tree a ghostly shape appeared near by.

"So. How does it feel killing a innocent man?" The ghostly spectre asked.

"Fuck off." Emerald spat at the ghost.

It then took form of herself. But looking more disappointed.

"Emerald… why do you believe this path is the only one?" Her doppelganger asked.

"Just leave me alone." She growled

"I'm not giving up on you Emerald."

Her ghostly doppelganger disappeared just as Dredgen Vena's ship arrived. The hatch opened to reveal Hazel, but in what looked like titan gear made of those purple crystals and grimm bones found in Salem's domain. He held out a hand.

"Come. We're leaving this place." he said rather stoically.

She nodded and took his hand. He lifted her up and the ship flew off and disappeared into the night sky.

00000

Cayde dashed back into the throne room to see a Barloc and Sienna Khan kneeling over an unconscious Ghira, Cayde having failed to catch up to Emerald in time. Sienna had torn off a piece of her dress to cover the wound while Barloc inspected the knife in his shoulder. Sundance materialized and flew over to scan the knife.

"This blade carried some kind of hive curse, but I've never seen anything like it before."

"Can't you do something then?" Sienna demanded.

"We won't be able to deal with it here. We have to take him back to Beacon. Maybe the cryptarchs stationed there can figure something out." Barloc replied as he hefted Ghira onto his back. "Cayde call in your jumpship, I have no desire to have to walk back to the airfield with him on my back."

"Already did it." Cause replied as a roar of engines grew louder outside the throne room.

"Wait, I'm coming too." Sienna called out as the two guardians began leaving. "Our discussion still isn't done, and I have no desire to stay here and wait for your return."

"By all means, this way if you please." Cayde said inviting her out the door. Sundance transmatted the trio into the ship and immediately set for a course back to Beacon while Barloc and Sienna secured Ghira in the back. "Keep an eye on him for me." Cayde said to Sundance as he got into the cockpit. "I'll take it from here." The hunter vanguard gunned the engines as the ship blasted off into the sky.

00000

A panicked Blake Belladonna sprinted down the halls of Beacon, with the rest of her team and Summer Rose desperately trying to keep up. "Blake hold on!" Weiss called out as she and the others raced after their teammate. But Blake was in no mood to wait or pause. Moments later, she practically kicked down the door to a room in the infirmary.

"Father!" She cried out as she ran over to the bedside. Ghira Belladonna was lying unconscious, hooked up to vital signs monitor. Standing next to him was Cayde and a warlock she had never seen before. From where she was, she could see sickly green lines spreading from a wound in his shoulder like an infection. "What happened?" She asked as tears streamed down her face. "Who did this?"

"An assassin." Replied the warlock. "She ambushed the meeting between us and Sienna Khan. Your father took the blow meant for her. Unfortunately the assassin escaped. We had to prioritize saving Ghira first." The rest of team RWBY and Summer finally caught up just in time to see Blake crying over her father.

"Cayde!" Summer called out, "What is this?"

"A hit gone wrong, hive magic in a knife." He replied. "I sent the knife to Byf, he's looking for a solution right now." Summer felt a bit reassured at that. She knew the warlock's reputation. If there was a cure out there, he would find it. The room was silent other than the sounds of Blake's sobs while Yang comforted her partner. The vitals monitor beeped steadily, the only sign that Ghira was still alive. There was a hiss of the door sliding open, and everyone turned to see Byf standing in the doorway.

"Well?" Barloc asked the master cryptarch, but Byf only shook shook his head.

"I'm sorry, I tried looking everywhere for a cure. There's nothing I can do." The truth hit Blake like a freight train.

"No…." she mumbled before slumping onto the floor, tears dripping to the floor. "It can't end like this it can't…"

"What do you mean you can't?!" Summer yelled as she grabbed Byf by the lapels, and practically shoved him against the wall. "You're a cryptarch! Isn't finding answers supposed to be your job?"

"Summer!" Barloc warned, and was about to do something else before Byf held up his hand.

"Guardian Rose please." Byf responded calmly. "The magic used here is something we have no documentation of. It's eating away at him both physically and spiritually. That's something even the best warlocks can't cure, you should know that already. " Gritting her teeth, Summer dropped Byf. The warlock rubbed his shoulders, sore from Summer's sudden assault.

"I won't allow this, I won't." She growled as she walked over to the bed. "Yang, have Blake stand back." Summer ordered as she pulled out her knife.

"What are you!-" Blake screamed but was silenced by a stern look from Summer.

"I'm going to try something. If it works the way I intend, he'll live. If not, he'll die either way."

"Summer, are you sure." Cayde cautioned as the white cloaked huntress raised the knife in her hand.

"I've seen Shin do something similar before. If it worked on Mars, it will work here." Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes. Emptying her mind of all other distraction and sounds, Summer concentrated on that feeling in her chest, a warm bright feeling of pure untainted Light, and willed it to swell and pour into her blade. As she concentrated, the feeling became warmer and larger as suddenly her eyes flew open, radiating with brilliant glittering light. The silver light cascaded down her arm and wrapped itself around the blade of the knife in her hand, so bright it was that everyone else in the room had to shield their eyes from the blinding brightness. Without a word, Summer brought the knife down into Ghira's shoulder. Ghira's form shuddered and he let loose a howl, not unlike an animal in pain.

"Father!" Blake cried out and tried to run over only for Yang to hold her back.

"No, Blake you can't!" Yang called out as the light from Summer grew even brighter. There was a flash, large enough to cover engulf the entire room and then, silence.

When everyone opened their eyes again, Summer was still standing over Ghira, her arms at her side, her knife on the floor. She was breathing heavily, panting, with beads of sweat on her forehead. Whatever she had done, it had taken a lot out of her. Barloc recovered first and immediately walked over and spun Summer around.

"What were you thinking?" He demanded as he grabbed the huntress by the shoulders. "That could have been incredibly dangerous." Summer replied with a smug grin.

"It worked."

The rest of the room gathered around Ghira, looking at where his wound was. The sickly green lines were no longer there, as if he was never infected in the first place. The only sign that anything had happened was a deep cut in his shoulder, the sign of Summer's efforts. Even that wound was starting to heal up, far faster than it should have.

"Incredible." Byf remarked as he leaned in closer. "I daresay whatever Guardian Rose here did, it removed the curse. I don't see any sign it's still here."

"Mom, what was that?" Ruby asked looking at her mother. Summer smiled while twirling a lock of hair with her finger.

"Something Uncle Shin taught me when he first taught me how to use the silver eyes. The light within, you, me, and him, is far more potent and powerful than that of normal guardian's. Light rends and burns the Darkness, and so I figured that if Shin could use it to drive away the darkness, then it should also work on their curses." She looked at Ghira's now peaceful sleeping form. "And looks like I was right."

"Doesn't change the fact that that was reckless." Barloc remarked. "But I can't fault you for that, Cayde trained you after all."

"Hey!" went an indignant Cayde, "Wait is that a compliment or an insult, because I can't tell now."

"Yes." Barloc replied dryly.

"Fine fine whatever." Cayde threw his hands in the air in exasperation.

"So my father's going to be alright?" asked Blake.

"It appears so." Byf replied, still inspecting the patient. "It may take him a while to recover consciousness but I say he'll be fine. I should go get a nurse though, just to take care of this second knife wound here." Summer laughed sheepishly as the cryptarch left the room.

"We should go too." said Barloc as he grabbed Cayde by the arm. "Sienna has been waiting for us in Ozpin's office, and I know for a fact the Vanguard would want a report on this. And yes, that means paperwork Cayde, and don't give me that look." One could clearly hear Cayde's groans as he was dragged out of the room.

"But I don't wanna…."

* * *

**That's it for this chapter folks. Since we took a while to get this chapter out, expect a new chapter not too far into the future. Anyways, thanks again for reading and we have been Fireteam Nero. **


	4. Last Will and Testament

"As the one Summer entrusted to this task, I have been empowered to read Summer's last will, due to her… departure." Barloc said, looking down everyone in the room with a flat stare.

"Well get on with it, the bar is awaiting us." Qrow said, elbowing Cayde-6 who nodded in agreement.

"_SUMMER!" _Taiyang cried out, with Ozpin patting his back.

"There there…" Ozpin said, and looked at Barloc. The two honestly couldn't believe it would've happened anytime soon either, but it caught them both off-guard.

"I'm still surprised at how well I predicted the both of them." Raven said dryly, looking at Taiyang and Cayde, the latter nodding morosely.

"We've never worked with a better Guardian." Prometheus and Lux said in unison, their helmets off, the two staving off their emotions as to act professional over this matter.

"If we are all seated and able to listen," Barloc glared at Taiyang, who was still sobbing. "Then I'd like to start the reading."

"Get on with it." Raven said immediately after the words were spoken.

"I, Summer Rose, being of sound mind and body," Qrow suppressed a laugh, knowing exactly what she left behind. "Hereby divide my earnings over the past course of my career as follows: To my overly emotional husband." Barloc's right eye twitched as the bawling increased from Taiyang.

"Tai, he's referring to you." Ozpin reminded.

"Really?" Tai said, stopping his crying, sniffling a bit as he did so.

"Who lived with me, and has been left with kids to raise on his lonesome, and wore a dress to prom back during our early days, I leave," Barloc then looked to Taiyang. "A boot to the head."

"Wait, what?!" Was all Taiyang let out, before a boot hit his face.

"And one for the wimp friend he's got." Barloc continued, as a boot also hit a confused Ozpin. "Oh, but you are both still loved ones to the end, having always pushed me to become a better huntress…"

The two looked at Barloc, Taiyang being flattered by her words, and Ozpin giving Barloc a flat look. "Was that really necessary?"

"Oh, you don't have to be rude Oz!" Taiyang said in defense of Summer, as Qrow laughed, Cayde seemingly trying to keep his composure as well.

Barloc shrugged. "It says it in the will, so you two must be who she's mentioning." He quickly commented, before moving on. "Thus, I hereby decree to you two, as the best friends,another boot to the head." He finished, two more boots going into the same faces.

"To Qrow, my alcoholic teammate who's always down on his luck…"

"Oh no I don't want no boot to the head." Qrow panicked and tried to duck behind his seat.

"I leave a case of the finest whiskey I was able to dig up from the EDZ."

"Wait what?" Qrow asked peeking his head up.

"And a boot to the head."

"Ow!" Qrow yelped as a boot pelted him right in the forehead.

"And another two for the wimps!"

"Gah!"

"Ow!"

Barloc couldn't help but smirk a bit now. The power was getting a bit to him, but he remembered that he had a promise to fill, and grimaced. "To Raven, the knowitall sister I've never had."

"I don't even need to be as old as Ozpin to see this coming."

"I bequeath, a boot to the head."

"Ugh!" Raven let out, the boot smacking her in the frowning face. "I knew it."

"And another two for the wimps!"

"Ah! Taiyang cried out in pain, falling to the ground.

"Auh!" Ozpin let out, doing the same.

"To the rest of my fireteam, Lux Sylphid and Prometheus."

"I think I'd be fine without this." Lux immediately covered her head, knowing what it was.

"I second that." Prometheus said, already ducking for the boot.

"Who watched my back for many, many years, went with me on strikes, took turns in Crimson Doubles together…"

The two couldn't help but smile at the memories.

"I still wish to fight with her again, too."

"It always amazed me, the tactics she came up with to cause more havoc than I." He said, peeking his head out from the table.

"To the remaining teammates of Fireteam Nero, I leave, boots to the head."

The two guardians attempted to dodge, but it proved fruitless, both the two boots hitting their respective targets.

"And another two for the wimps!"

"Ouh!"

"Oof!"

"To my pet Zwei," Barloc looked around, and noticed Zwei behind him, looking just as confused as he was. "I leave my entire vast- boot to the head."

Zwei let out a pained yelp of confusion, and looked around to see where the boot came from.

"Why the dog, Summer…" Barloc muttered to himself, before bracing himself for what comes next, putting his hand in a paper bag next to him. "Lastly, to Barloc, who has helped me on this will:I leave not a boot to the head, but-" He pauses, and his eyes widened, hand letting go of a concussion grenade that rolled out onto the floor harmlessly as he felt something down below. "A large, rabid hive worm to be placed in his trousers?!"

Barloc cried out in pain, the hive worm thrashing around, as he forcefully extracted it from his pants, stomping on it afterwards. He took a moment to compose himself, and opened up his medkit, applying some healing gel to the wounds. "And I leave all my glimmer to the people of Remnant, in hopes they can reach Earth." He then looked at Cayde, who whistled all too innocently.

"That's it!?" Tai almost yelled in annoyance.

"That's disgraceful, even for her standards!" Qrow seconded Tai in shared anger.

"There's one last thing:A tub of ice cream for everybody in the room." Barloc said, as he reached for a concussion grenade.

A silence then fell over the room, until Tai broke the silence. "Is the flavor blueberry?"

"No," Barloc said, throwing the concussion grenade into the ceiling, blowing a hole in the roof of which Summer fell through, a yelp of surprise coming from her.

"Traitor!" Summer said, getting up a bit, and pointing aggressively at him, as he walked to the door, opening it. Everyone stared at Summer in complete shock.

"Boot to the head." Barloc threw another grenade behind him, hitting a hidden mechanism on a wall that sent boots flying everywhere.

Barloc sighs, as he looked at the last will one last time, while the sounds of pain and rubber soles echoed behind him.

"You hunters sure are bitches aren't ya?"

* * *

**Happy April 1st guys ;)**


	5. Toll the Iron Bell

**Hello guys, new chapter again. Anyway we're moving to a 2 week update cycle because of prior obligations IRL and this way we can really work and polish what we put out instead of rushing each chapter. That being said, we're actually going to get into the main conflict of the story, I know it's about time right? Anyway this will be the last major chapter involving worldbuilding, after this you're gonna see some fireworks.**

* * *

Things in Remnant had fallen into a new routine, for the most part. The Guardians had managed to engraine themselves into the day to day operations of the world. Repairs to the damages caused by the Vex were all but finished, with only minor touch ups left to finish. The new education at Beacon had also seen very apparent results. Shaxx's intense training regime has shown major results, with some of the students under his tutelage fighting in ways only seen in professional huntsmen. The crucible master noted their substantial leaps in bounds in combat prowess and tactics, but still believed there was room to grow.

Sienna's formal declaration of peace between the White Fang and the rest of Remnant came as a shock to the populace. There were mixed reactions in both human and faunus communities with some calling it an elaborate ruse while others celebrating it as a sign of things to come. Popular opinion was all over the place, and the disagreements involved caused not a few public incidents before Cayde and Barloc were forced to make a public announcement declaring their trust in Sienna, and vowing to work with the White Fang.

This quelled the public to a certain extent, but there were still a substantial amount of active White Fang splinter cells that decided to turn away from Sienna altogether, still calling for blood and war.

But all that doesn't matter now. For the day has finally arrived. The day that travel between Earth and Remnant is established. In a recent broadcast from Cayde-6, he announced that at midnight on this night, satellites will enter into orbit around Remnant and once up, they will connect to their sister satellites around Earth and instant communication between worlds will be possible, and the entire thing will be on a live broadcast.

To say that everyone was excited by the announcement would be moot. All around the world, viewing parties are being established from the poorest regions to the most high-class of classes, getting ready for the greatest moment in Remnant's history. At Beacon, a large screen TV was being set up in the auditorium for all the students to view. Even a snack bar with food and drinks were set out ready to be served to the party goers.

While the rest of the school was eagerly awaiting the greatest moment in history, four individuals, however, were not in celebratory spirits. Those being Daisy, Blake, her mother Kali and her recovering father Ghira.

00000

Blake opened the door after taking a breath. Her father was still in the hospital bed, his chest slowly rising and falling. Even though the curse had been removed by Summer's efforts, the cellular damage and effect on his soul still needed time to heal. She slowly closed the door behind her and took a chair and brought it to his bedside. Sitting down, she cupped his hand with hers.

"Hey dad… been awhile since we talked in person." Blake said to him. He didn't respond at all, lying there almost motionless.

It really was bringing down her spirits. Seeing her father like this for the first time in the last five years. Only rarely talking to him yet only to insult him and her mother till she realized her teacher… was a vile, broken man driven to vengeance, due to what was done to him physically and psychologically. She thought the same and called him out. Her own father. A coward at what the Faunas where facing these days.

"I hope you get to meet my friends when you wake up. They're… really great." When she came to Beacon Academy after her realization. She understood why he left and became Chieftain of Menagerie. The sudden spike of Faunas wanting faster results. Using terrorism as a means to striking fear into the humans. She started to tear up at her father's state. While their last conversation was from a letter, she really wanted to say she was sorry in person, but with what happened, it would be a long while.

"I… just wanted to say…" Blake stopped herself to try and compose herself, tears beginning to stream down her face. But there was no stopping the floodgates from bursting. "I'm sorry! I said things that were too much… I was blind, even after everything we went through. I had….I thought...I thought Adam was right in a way… but… I couldn't stand it. The blood that was spilled, the faces of those I hurt. I ran… none of my friends know this… Only Shin does, but that's because he saw right through me. I'm… just not sure of much anymore."

She then heard the door open and turned her eyes to it. Daisy walked in with a bundle of flowers. Her helmet was off so Blake got a good look at Daisy's neutral face, which quickly reverted to a smile. Closing the door behind her she set the flowers in a vase on the coffee table on Ghira's right side if the bed. Daisy then took a seat, and notices the agitation from Blake.

"Is something wrong Blake?" Daisy asked rather confused that Blake was giving her a look torn between irritation and regret. Blake sighed, and calmed down a bit.

"Its nothing. Though why are you here?" Blake asked.

Blake was worried that Daisy heard her pour her heart out. Thinking that she should have been a bit quieter and tried rubbing away her tears. Though Daisy didn't seem to be mindful or just didn't care about seeing Blake in her "emotional state" at the moment.

"I came by to see if Mr. Belladonna was still ok. You did take off running the day when you got that call from Cayde to check on him. Really should have put two and two together though, I mean you and your father have the same black hair and amber eyes after all." Daisy replied.

"Were you there? At Menagerie during the Vex counteroffensive?"

"Yes. I was. Me, my grandfather, at least three other four man teams with one of my Grandfather's friends piloting his ship as our air support. I met at the front lines. Him and the police force were holding the last line of defense. We helped push the Vex off the island and helped rebuild the town. Though after the Vex where pushed off I helped out the orphanage take care of the children. I… don't necessarily like moving… bodies." Daisy replied. Blake nodded as she turned back to her father.

"He loves you. You know that right?" Daisy said. Blake looked surprised for a moment, before she looked away in shame.

"You don't believe me?" Daisy asked with a eyebrow raised.

"How would you know?"

"He told me."

00000

Daisy held a book in her hands while the children surrounded her, as she read line after line of what was in it. Sometimes the chieftain of Menagerie came to see how the orphanage was, and to see if the children were being treated well, or if it needed any necessities. Ghira watched as children either laughed, giggled, or made a funny comment about any specific character. Ghira looked at the title of the book with his enhanced vision. Her hands covered who wrote it, but the title was plain as day. It was something called "The Magician's Nephew". She would speak in odd, but funny accents to ether bring a feeling for the scene.

"And then Diggery saw the great Lion that many have said was there. The thought of 'mother will be well again' he ran with great joy in his heart. He then looked at the lion. But what befell his ears filled his heart with dread, and tears rained from his cheeks."

""Diggery Clerk, it is you that has brought about evil in Narnia." Daisy said in her best Liam Neeson voice.

A few gasps rang out through the crowd of children, their reactions one of shock as she continued. "His hope for getting his mother well again evaporated that very instant Aslan finished his sentence. He thinks that there's no way that the Lion was going to help his mother now. His sorrow grew in his heart. And a lump formed in his throat. But then something caught his ear. Aslan spoke again."

"_Are you ready to restore what your foolishness has wrought?" _

"His tone held no malice. His eyes didn't betray what he saw in the little boy. The boy spoke but his sorrow was carried with every word"

"_Yes… but cant you give me something that will cure mother?" _

"The boy looked up and saw something that surprised young Diggery. Something that would make others feel like they were insignificant to this moment. For the Great Lions face was bent near his own. Wonder of wonders great tears fell from the Lions eyes. For the moment the young lad thought the Lion felt more pity for his mother then himself."

"_My son, my son, I know. Grief is great." The Lion spoke. "You and I know this in the land yet." _Daisy saw the time on the wall and closed the book. And looked onto the small children.

"Ok little ones. Time for bed." Daisy said with a smile.

The children all pouted, as their heart strings were being played, only to be abruptly followed by the silence of disappointment for having not heard the rest of the story.

"Please Ms. Daisy, read a little more!" Said one of the kids.

"Sorry but 8:00 is your bedtime. Now run along to bed. I'll have another person read yea the rest of the story and series before I leave tomorrow." Daisy replied with a sweet motherly tone. The children did what they were told, and went to bed as Daisy put the book in a collection box, leaving it on a low shelf. As she exited the small library of the orphanage building, she saw Ghira standing outside of the room.

"Oh, I- we weren't expecting you." Daisy stuttered a bit nervously, having been caught off guard.

"No need to be so formal . I was simply going to ask if you'd like some tea with me and my wife?" Ghira asked.

"Oh." She let out in surprise and relief, as she quickly considered it. "I guess it won't hurt to go out for a little bit."

00000

"Thanks again for inviting me for some tea. But I don't see any other reason. I mean, surely negotiations between Menagerie and Cayde have been well? Active since me and my fireteam ridden the Island of Vex. Is there something else?" Daisy asked she she placed down her tea. Ghira nodded to her assessment. Being that her fireteam leader was the one constantly in contact with the Hunter Vanguard, Daisy was nothing other than being a hero with her teammates among Menagerie's government and people. It made little sense for her to be over at all sense she had no real position of Political power.

"I recently got a email from Cayde. He said that you and your Grandfather are redeploying. You to Beacon Academy, and your Grandfather back to Earth." Ghira said

"I see. But what does this have to do with me being sent to Beacon? You have a child there?" She asked.

"Yes. Her name is Blake. She's seventeen like you." Ghira replied.

"I see. But couldn't you simply message her yourself or go there in person?" Daisy asked

"Our last conversation didn't really end well. I highly doubt she would want to see or hear from us for a time. However, if we do meet her again, you don't have to say a word." Kalli said.

Daisy nodded in understanding.

"I see. You want me to forward a message to her if something happens to either of you?"

Blake's parents nod.

00000

"He said that he and your mother love you, and are proud that you've found your way again. That you saw through Adam's lies, and what the Vale Branch of the White Fang were doing. That you had the courage to face them again, but instead of bullets and crossing swords, you did so with Ideals and understanding. They love you Blake. Nothing you do can change that." Daisy replied

Blake smiled and teared up at her father's late message to her through this other worlder. Rubbing her tears away. Her smile was brighter.

"Thanks Daisy. I needed that." Blake said, a relieved smile on her face.

Daisy only smiled and nodded. They then looked back at Ghira, who was still breathing without any problems. Though one thing still laid dormant on her mind.

"Hey Blake. I have a question." Daisy asked

"What is it?" Blake asked.

"Why did you stay with Adam? And the Vale Branch of the White Fang?" Daisy replied. It seems to have struck a chord with the cat faunus, as she got a wary look in her eye.

"Why do you ask?"

"It's just… why would you stay with them when you have such caring parents? Why stay with people who only steal, kill, and destroy?" Daisy asked. Blake saw that she was genuinely curious. Like she knows something from Earth that was similar to her situation. However, she didn't know what her angle was, and didn't want to say anything about her time with the Vale Branch.

"What would you know about Faunas discrimination?" Blake practically scolded. Daisy just kept a neutral face, as Blake just spilled her guts out.

"What would you know about discrimination? Your people on earth already solved that problem even before the Collapse happened. You all lived in harmony by the time Summer Rose came by. The Forces of Darkness practically was just biding time for another collapse to finally wipe you all out, while you all have it easy and blissfully ignorant of the forces that lay outside your door. What would you know about losing someone?! A friend due to what he went through!?" Blake fumed.

Daisy just closed her eyes and sighs. She hoped that she'd never have to share some scars. She opened her eyes, empathy within them as she stared at Blake, her face staying neutral as a green light appeared over her shoulder. The image was that of a soldier in bulky armor with a rather large pistol in its hands. It's movement was like that of a old video game as it spoke.

"_Are you sure about this Daisy?" _The image asked. Daisy nodded.

"I am Delta." She replied

"_Complying." _The image said as it disappears. Then a glow of Daisy right gauntlets meant that it was being transmatted. The Armor plates along her left arm disappeared. She then removed the air sealed glove on her hand and rolled up the sleeve of her body suit to reveal something on her arm. Scars where marked onto her flesh. But unlike the runes on Summers arm that Daisy saw. These were burned into her skin. Not like Summers which were stabbed into her skin and carved out with a knife. Blake couldn't make out what they were due to them being so faded and some intersecting one another it was hard to make out what exactly was burned into her skin. Probably at a young age most likely as well do to how they were fading.

"Blake. Out of everyone that's human on this planet. I'm probably the only one of my species you know that knows the pain of discrimination. But not of race. But of thought." Daisy replied. She then rolled down her sleeve and put the glove back on. Her armor was then transmitted back to her left arm, as if she hadn't taken it off in the first place. Though Blake was in shock at what she saw. Her own people branded her with something on her skin. Daisy got up and walked to the door.

"I hope your father gets well Blake. I mean that. Be glad you can have your father back any minute now." Daisy said. She then walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. Opting to give Blake and her father some privacy. But Blake was all more confused at her last words of her being able to have her father back. Daisy was more of a mystery to Blake. She could only sigh a she realized the irony between herself and Daisy when it came to their pasts. Wanting no one to know what was beyond the mask they hid themselves behind. She then heard the door open again. Looking up she saw her mother for the first time in who knows how long.

"Ghira are you… Blake?" Kali said, as she saw her teenage daughter by her husband's side. Blake didn't know what to do. She nervously held onto her arm. Looking away from her mother. Thinking back. Blake put two and two together. Daisy. Saw a lot of young children never able to have there parents back. Or at the very least her father. Though she doesn't know for sure really. But now she was able to see her mother. Looking up but rather trying to avert her eyes.

"Hey… mom." Blake awkwardly greeted, having not expected this. She honestly expected to hear her mother scold her for leaving them the way she did.. But she didn't hear a single word. Not until she felt her mother wrap her arms around her. "My baby girl!" Kalli wailed crying into her daughter's hair.

"It's… good to see you too mom." Blake cried as well, a smile on her face as she hugged her walked away from the door. Putting on her helmet and her hood. After a few minutes She got a text from Cayde to stay by Mr, and Mrs. Belladonna as Blake was gonna go to the auditorium soon. So she waited for Blake to leave before she could go back in. To act as the Belladonnas' Bodyguard. She looked back as Blake made her way to the area. She hoped she got her point across to the cat Faunus as best she could.

Blake headed to the auditorium, knowing that Daisy will keep an eye on her parents. As she entered, she saw all the students and teachers either watching the screen countdown to the final hours before the satellites go up or partaking in the snacks. She saw Yang waving her arm towards her towards the middle of the Auditorium, signalling her to where her team was seated. She made her way to the team and sat down, noticing Doctor Oobleck in the distance.

"Why is professor Oobleck-"

"Doctor!" she heard said Doctor Oobleck from the other side of the vast room.

"_Doctor_ Oobleck standing around with a bunch of suitcases near him?" She asked.

"I heard Uncle Cayde say that Oobleck has been approved for an Inter Planetary Visa, and as soon as a secure transport route between our worlds is figured out, he'll be the first one through the gate." Ruby said as she stuffed her face full of popcorn, and giving a few to Zwei, who was sitting in the seat right beside her. The entire room suddenly gone silent as the screen turned on featuring a real-time view of Remnant from space. Everyone in the room and all across the planet saw their homeworld from space and marveled at the beauty before them. From the planet came a large rocket slowly approaching the camera. It split apart revealing seven decahedron satellites. One of them approached the camera propelled by small jets on the sides, while the remaining six went to the left and right towards their own positions. A small miniature screen showed Remnant in the center slowly surrounded by the satellites with a small percentage screen slowly going upwards. As the satellites went into their designated zones, the percentage went up. As the final one went to its place a message popped up on the screen.

ESTABLISHING CONNECTION…

Every single human and faunus held their breath waiting. For a good half hour, no one spoke, eyes glued to their screens when the words that would be engraved in the history books popped up.

CONNECTION ESTABLISHED

From the speakers Cayde's voice sounded. "We're green across the board! Welcome to a new age, Remnant!" And with those words everyone shouted in celebrations. Streamers and confetti dropped on the students heads as they cheered. Even from within the auditorium, some heard the cheering coming even from the city itself as everyone cheered. All across the world people were celebrating. In villages, humans and faunas slapped each other on the backs and hugged each other as they joined the revelry. In the Schnee Manor, Jacques Schnee, patriarch of the Schnee family popped open a bottle of champagne and toasted with his guests, thinking to himself how he would establish SDC's presence on Earth.

000000

In Salem's fortress deep in the Grimmlands, even she and her subordinates, excluding the Shadows of Yor who were busy with something, were watching the launch in high spirits. At her table, she produced a bottle of wine covered in dust (the regular kind).

"I was saving this for when my plans succeeded, but I think this is a better use for it." She waved her hand and the wine was poured into glasses for Cinder, Tyrian, Watts, Hazel, Merlot. She raised her glass in a toast. "To the dawn of a new age."

"For a New Age!" And they all drank in celebration.

000000

Summer was among the students celebrating the successful launch and connection between Earth and Remnant. She wondered whether this is what the people of Earth felt when they established space flight. It almost felt like nothing could ruin this moment of triumph. But fate had something different in store. Drei appeared right next to her head. "Summer, message from both Ozpin and Cayde." She frowned, knowing that whatever message they had would be related to saving the world. She edged her way past the partygoers and exited the auditorium and into the hall.

"Alright Drei, what's up?" What he said shook her to her core, and briefly she heard dark laughter deep in her mind.

"We have an SOS from Saladin Forge."

00000

Summer practically flew into Ozpin's office after hearing the news. Around the table in the center of the room stood Cayde, Barloc, Ozpin, Glynda, and Ironwood. They were all surrounding a projection of Lord Saladin himself, being displayed by Sundance.

"_We have a breach at the Cosmodrome." _Spoke the hologram of Saladin. _"At first I thought it was just a particularly persistent Fallen House until I had discovered evidence of trespassing into the Warmind vault there. If my suspicions are true, then this is not a matter that can be ignored, but I lack the strength to face it alone. Send whatever you are able to spare, but make haste. I fear the Fallen have unleashed something they themselves cannot control. Saladin out."_

Summer approached the table as the recording finished playing.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Nothing good." Cayde remarked. "If it's gotten old Saladman riled up, then it definitely can't be good."

"If what you have told me about this Lord Saladin is true, then what could he be possibly referring to?" Ozpin asked.

"I have an idea…" Barloc replied gravely. "Saladin is a man with a heart and will that matches his title. In all of the universe, there is only one thing he has ever feared, and if it is that one thing, then we are all in danger."

"What is this, 'thing', you speak of?" Ironwood demanded. "If it is such a danger, we should deal with it immediately."

"It is not something the likes of you can potentially deal with." Barloc replied dryly. "The only thing that I can think of Saladin referring to is, SIVA…"

"...SIVA?" Summer cocked her head to the side, unfamiliar with the name. "What is that?"

"Don't ask me, I've never heard of it either." Cayde shrugged.

"I wouldn't expect any of you to have." Barloc continued. "Saladin took great measures to ensure all history and data of SIVA were destroyed. He thought that if anyone got their hands on it, regardless if they were for good intentions or not, it would cause such devastation that it'd wipe out humanity. Only a select few know the story, and even then the knowledge is limited. Even among guardians as old as I."

"This SIVA, is it a weapon?" Ozpin asked. Barloc sighed.

"It wasn't meant to be." He said. "From what little I know from Iron Lady Skorri and Iron Lord Radegast, they went after a lost Golden Age tech known as SIVA. SIVA was supposed to be the epitome of the Golden Age's tech; a adaptive network of nanites that could build structures faster than anything in the solar system. Every Iron Lord and Iron Wolf went looking for it, but Lord Saladin was the only one who returned. "

"Do you know what happened?" Summer asked.

"Rasputin happened." Barloc pursed his lips. "I don't know the full details, but that Warmind controlled SIVA to serve its own purposes. The only person who can and will tell you the whole story is Saladin himself."

"So where does that leave us then?" Glynda asked, breaking her silence. "What are the chances this SIVA could arrive here?"

"Hard to say, considering the nature of it." Barloc replied. "A day, a week, a matter of months even? It all depends on how long Saladin can stem the tide, and prevent it from getting out of… wherever it may be inside the Cosmodrome, but that's why he's asking for help."

"I say we send everything." Ironwood announced slamming his fist on the table. "Mobilize the entire armed forces of Remnant to go in there, and eliminate this SIVA, before it puts us at risk."

"Typical." Glynda snorted, "Could you stop and think a moment before deciding to throw a hammer at every problem that comes your way, James?"

"What would you suggest then?" Ironwood shot back.

"First of all." Barloc cut in. "With your current capabilities, you would be flying into a massacre. A massacre that would only benefit SIVA." Ironwood paused.

"Barloc's right." Summer added. "If an entire Fallen House is involved, then you won't stand a chance. And from the way he's describing SIVA, it sounds more like a virus than anything else. When was the last time you fought against something like that, Jimmy?" Ironwood's eyebrow twitched when Summer called him by his nickname. A nickname he really didn't like hearing.

"Fine then, what's the plan?" Ironwood relented.

"Sending a large force in would just end up with them either become fodder for the Fallen or SIVA, neither being a desirable outcome." Barloc mused.

"And not to mention, you would attract a lot of unnecessary attention from some pretty nasty dudes if you just dropped an army on Earth." Cayde added.

"A smaller force then." proposed Ozpin, while he glanced over at Summer. "Perhaps Miss Rose would be up for the task?"

"I'll need a team in that case." Summer replied crossing her arms. "Who do we got that's available?"

Barloc immediately motioned to Cayde, the message to him and Summer coming through loud and clear.

"Mmmm not much by the looks of it." Cayde was looking through a list of names on his scroll. "Your usual fireteam was asked to go deal with White Fang splinter cells in Mistral. I can't leave my post here and neither can Shaxx or Byf. Most of the other Guardians on hand are also out doing various other assignments across the planet. Sorry, but we're all tapped out right now."

"Or you know, I'll do it." Everyone in the room turned to look where the voice was coming from. Standing inside the door frame to the office was a lanky man with messy hair, drinking out of a flask.

"Qrow? How long have you been there?" Ozpin asked.

"Pretty much the entire time." Qrow replied putting away his flask. "It sounded really important so I was worried you wouldn't let me in on it."

"Your track record doesn't give us much of a good reason to." Glynda remarked with a slight scowl.

"I'm hurt." Qrow joked as he approached the table.

"With all due respect Mr. Branwen." Barloc began, "This may be above your-"

"What abilities?" Qrow cut him off. "Oh, like somehow you Guardians are better than us in every single way, and we need to hide behind you guys for everything?"

"I didn't say that." said Barloc. "It's just that without a ghost, the mission may put you at-" Barloc cut himself off, opting for a different choice of words. "There may be no way back out of this once you're in."

"As if you Guardians ever cornered the market on killing bad guys." Qrow said with a sneer.

Barloc was about to respond to the remark, but was cut off by his scroll vibrating in his pocket. He took it out, and found something that made his eyes widen underneath the helmet.

"_I know why you're hiding out as Cayde's secretary. It's not hard to feel the lack of light when one of you Guardians isn't around." _The message said, clearly having came from Qrow. He quickly, but not hastily to show his concern, put the scroll back into his pocket.

"Very well. If you feel as if you can handle this, I won't stop you. But do take note:These enemies may be familiar to Summer, but they've more than likely will have things neither of you three shall expect." Barloc stated as a matter of fact, his posture unchanged.

Qrow raised an eyebrow.

"I know you're going to drag Tai along with you, so I'm just going to avoid the argument and preemptively give him permission." Barloc said, before the words could leave Qrow's mouth.

"Tai?" Summer asked, looking to Barloc. "Barloc, I can understand Qrow, but…"

"Comparable data shows that Yang is already able to be self-reliant, as well as your daughter Ruby." Barloc said in response. "While I wouldn't like it either, Tai has all rights to go as well, and there's a high probability of him doing so. However, since they're both non-guardians, you need to watch their backs more than yours, Summer."

00000

A sword pierced a Fallen Captain as the SIVA infused tank explodes. With a quick pull the broadswords blade retreated the Splicers flesh as ether sprayed everywhere. The Captain fell backwards as other Splicers realized that their mission was a failure, and immediately transmatted back to their ketch. The artillery battery emplacements that here bombarding sector 17 of the Cosmodrome came to a halt much earlier, as the Guardian in black and red armor did a few swings to get the ether off his blade. His blood red visor looked out to the setting sun. The carnage he had just delivered to the splicers has been rather harsh, as if the Fallen had slighted him personally.

In a way, they did so very long ago. He will deliver what they wrought on themselves personally but for now, he was going to need some rest. Placing his sword on his back next to his rifle. He decided to watch the sunset as guardians poured into the Cosmodrome. Looking back at the destroyed tank, a vandal was slowly getting up using the destroyed machinery as a crutch to get up. Holding one of it's hand on a bullet wound to it's chest it looked up at the black colored Titan with shades of red. It shouted something he knew he had been seen as by the house of devils.

"Demon!" It uttered with its hoarse voice through its mask.

The Titan looked back at the sunset. But his right hand pulled a pistol and fired a round into the dying Vandals head. Ether and purple blood spewed from the damaged mask as it fell to the ground dead.

"Something doesn't feel right." The Titan said reholstering his sidearm.

"_Yeah. And I fear it's just gonna get worse._" His Ghost said as it appeared next to him.

"Yeah. That's what worries me." The Titan said.

* * *

**Hope you guys enjoyed that bit, and now a few words from the authors.**

**Diluation:So just to let you know, I'll be off for a couple of weeks. Life bumped in the way, and it's forcing me to hiatus this and my story for a bit. Don't worry, this doesn't mean progress is altogether stopping for the story until I'm done, as I have full confidence that Regal can write my part of the work in my absence(really, the dude practically read my character Barloc like an open book. It takes me a lot of time to get myself into writing somebody different and developed.). **

**Animeak116: Well guys hope you enjoyed the chapter. And to a particular Rockman1159…..We WILL have our vengeance. **

**Aquilos: Animeak stop declaring boot wars on everyone.**

**Dustin: **_***You have reached the answering machine of Dustiniz117, please leave a message after the beep.***_

**Animeak116: must I always retort?**

**Diluation:I'll have to join you on the boot war later btw, Animeak. Do you have any idea how many times I slammed the door on my face? To prevent myself from looking too damn handsome? Because that's the boot's fault! **

**Animeak116:That sounds like a u problem **

**Aquilos: Children, Enough!**

**Animeak116: Shut up your not my Staff Sergeant. Nor my Battery Guns, or CO. Because i have Howitzers on this guy's butt!**

**Anyway while I clean up the inevitable war that's gonna happen in the writers room. On behalf of Fireteam Nero, I wish you all a good day. - Aquilos**


	6. Will of Iron

GXY-2013:Will JNPR and RWBY train under Lord Saladin, and will they go to Earth?

**Diluation:No, and no to JNPR going to Earth. However, we are debating getting RWBY to Earth.**

**I'm not going to reply to Omnigawker, as I already given him a boot to the head via a PM. One doesn't need two boots to get the point across.**

**We will state again, however, that we think that ships are unnecessary to the universe as is, and would rather stick to writing it without complicating the story with such a sub-plot of that size(I'm looking at you, suddenly dropping in ex of Blake. Aren't you supposed to just be a teacher?). This doesn't mean we'll ignore the possibility of such happening, however. There are some situations in storytelling that certain ships would just be too good to not add, albeit rarer than that Vex Mythoclast we all want.**

**Edit:Also, that being said, I hate things like Enabler with a burning passion. So if anyone suggests something like that, I will give them an honorary boot to the head.**

**Diluation:Oh, one last thing before we start.**

***pulls a cord that causes a trebucket to fling hundreds of boots at Rockman1159, covering him in a mountain of boots***

**Diluation:Retaliation at it's best… now we can read.**

00000

After much heated debate, Summer stood at the Remnant portal to Earth. Like Cayde said, it looked like it was Vex but also Human influenced. She looked behind her and saw her two old friends of a previous life. Taiyang was wearing the "Risen" Titan armor while Qrow wore the "Risen" Hunter armor. Not exactly the most reliable or protective gear but they would function for now. Summer made a mental note to get the two better gear when they got to earth. She sighs as she looked forward to the portal and looked back to her friends once again.

"Are you two sure about this?" Summer asked.

"Summer we told you before, we're a team, we'd follow you to hell and back." Qrow stated, as he put on a hunter helmet.

"Qrow's right Summer. We're the only other available help there is. Huntsman have been MIA and KIA in Mistral faster then anyone can explain. They're in desperate need of manpower over there. Atlas would just make a mess of things, Vacuo is… well, Vacuo, and Vale needs all the Huntsman they got. We're quite literally all there's left that's available." Tai replied as well.

"Ok. And thanks guys. For coming with me." Summer stated, both thankful and worried for them pitching in. _I just hope Ruby and her friends don't get into trouble while we're gone._ She thought as the Guardian and her former teammates went through the portal.

0000

Ruby was on her bed hugging her pillow. She was saddened at the fact her mother was called away. Various parts and a weapon frame was in her desk. A mother daughter project that she and Summer where doing together to pass the time and be together for some time. But if anything she just wanted her mother's company again. With her being redeployed to Earth with her father and Drunkle Qrow. She only had her friends and sister. She really shouldn't complain but it felt like she was missing something a part of her again. She hoped that her mother would return soon.

00000

Summer held her breath as she was once again in front of her daughter's dorm room. She wanted to stay for quite a while but unfortunately duty calls. And with the threat of SIVA. She didn't want to imagine what the Fallen would do if they managed to get SIVA on Remnant to take it over. So with a heavy heart. She decided to tell her kids. Knocking on the door, Weiss was the one who answered, in her pajamas and visibly a little irritated that someone was calling this late.

"Oh. Its you." Weiss deadpans. She looked off to her left.

"Ruby it's your mom, she looks like she has something to say." Weiss said from the door

"But it's like two in the morning." Ruby whined.

"Your mother is out here, talk to her." Weiss said with a bit of authority.

"Fine I'm coming." Ruby grumbled getting out of her top bunk.

Ruby walked up to the door rubbing away the tiredness in her eyes. She opened up her eye linds to see her mom in full battle regalia.

"Mom is everything alright?" Ruby asked

"Can you get Yang too, Ruby?" Summer asked.

"Sure… ok." Ruby replied.

It took a few minutes but eventually Ruby got Yang out of her bed. She groggily came to the door, her hair a flyaway mess.

"Mom is everything ok?" Yang asked.

"Girls, I have something I need to tell both of you." Summer sighed and paused before continuing. "I have to go back to Earth." Both girls widened their eyes in surprise, with Ruby looking like her whole world just got shattered

"Mom please tell me your joking." Ruby whispered as if she was holding back her pleading heart from escaping.

"Something has happened on Earth, and it may end up endangering Remnant if left unchecked. It must be stopped. The Vanguard needs me again. I can't ignore my duty." Summer gently said to Ruby. Ruby started to tear up.

"But….but I just got you back... after so many years! Isn't there any other Guardians that can help?" Ruby tried reasoning.

"The Guardians here on Remnant are helping clear out the Grimm and Bandit tribes. Huntsman are stretched thin in Mistral and they need all the help they can get." Summer softly replied.

"Why can't you stay!? It's not fair!" Ruby started to sob.

Summer placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder.

"I'll be back Ruby. Don't worry I'll be fine. Your dad and uncle will be going with me and they'll have my back like I do theirs." Summer said.

Ruby just sobbed into her mother's shoulder.

"The last time you left, we thought you died. I don't want that to become a reality this time." Ruby mumbled into Summer's shoulder.

Summer hugged Ruby back and rubbed her head and back.

"I know it feels unfair. But that's just life. I know you worry about whether or not i will return. But I will. This isn't a goodbye. This is a see you later, so don't say goodbye. You know I hate goodbyes." Summer said soothingly to the crying Ruby.

Yang had a blank face, but she to felt equally uncomfortable wanting her supermom to leave. It was great having her back. To Yang it felt like she was abandoning them. Like Raven did to her and Tai before. But as one person has said before in a book she read. "Grief is great." Ruby was then lead back to her bed and Yang got into hers. But before Summer could leave. Ruby asked a question.

"Mom. Can you….sing something to me…..please?"

Summer thought for a moment before smiling and nodding. Walking over to Ruby's bed she thought of multiple songs she could possibly sing until she finally got one. It was one she heard. Friend of hers sang to his Grandchild one night when she was being fussy when it was her bed time. So she figured it would be a good one to help Ruby if Ruby listened in between the lines.

("Not Alone" belongs to the band "Red")

"_Slowly fading away, lost and so afraid. Where is the hope, in a world so cold. Looking for a distant light. Someone who can save a life. Living in fear. When no one will hear your cries. Can you save me now? I am with you I will carry you through it all. I won't leave you I will catch you. When you feel like letting go~. Cause your not, your Not Alone." _

"_Your heart is full of broken dreams. Just a fading memory. And everything's gone. But the pain carries on. Lost in the rain again. When will this ever end. The Arms of Relief. Seems so out of reach but I. I am here. I am with you. I will carry you through it all. I won't leave you I will catch you. When you feel like letting go~. Cause your not. Your not alone." _

"_And I will be your hope. When you feel like it's over. And I will pick you up. When the whole world shatters. And when your finally in my arms. So please look up and see that Love as a Face. I am with you. I will carry you through it all. I won't leave you I will catch you. When you feel like letting go. Cause your not. Your not alone."_

"_And I will be your hope. Not alone~. And I will pick you up. And I will be your hope. And I will be your hope. Slowly fading away. Lost and so afraid. Where is the hope. In a world so cold." _

And with that Summer kissed Ruby's forehead as the 'minime' fell into a deep sleep. Yang watched Summer head to the door. Wondering if Summer will return soon. Just thinking about it made her heart ache more. The pain of losing her was still there when she died ten years ago. Maybe that wound will heal. But as wounds heal, scars remain. And one of them knew this well.

00000

"Welcome to the Cosmodrome! I don't remember it being this snowy last time I was here." Summer said as she and her two past-life teammates walked through the snow covered landscape towards their destination. They would've gotten there faster if not for two things.

The first being that she only had one Sparrow on her at the time, and didn't have anymore to spare for her teammates, so that was out of the question. The second being that after stepping through the portal that led to Remnant, they took the ground teleporter to their destination, only for it to malfunction and send them outside the wall a mile away from the Cosmodrome. And to make things worse, the nearest Guardian on call, a man named Frederick, who was a little closer than the original teleporter, was too busy fighting off SIVA to pick them up, forcing them to make their way on foot. After Qrow emptied his stomach and Taiyang managed stopped shaking from teleporter nausea, they followed the Wall to where they needed to go meet Frederick. To make the journey go by quicker, Drei answered as many questions about the Cosmodrome that were pitched to him by both Qrow and Tai.

"The Cosmodrome was both a shipyard and launching station during the days of the Golden Age. Almost every other week, ships went up into space with supplies and passengers to their new homes." Drei said.

"I can see that." Qrow said as they walked past a vast valley containing the skeletal remains of colony ships, some still pointing into the air awaiting their launch and others that fell and littered the ground, spilling their cargo and remains. Throughout his whole Huntsman career, he's seen devastated landscapes, abandoned cities and other places that were described as graveyards. Compared to this place, Remnant seemed like a paradise. But now he felt a little bit guilty comparing his world to this one, remembering that Earth had it alot worse compared to home. On Remnant, they had four kingdoms and a few small cities/ villages, while on Earth, there was only had one. They followed the wall until they came to a stretch of highway that led to what Summer described as the Gateway. When Tai asked her what was so important about reaching this location, she replied,

"Two things: the first being that this spot is the closest to where we are meeting a friend of mine that's waiting for us on the other side."

"And the second?"

"It's also the place where I first became a Guardian." she said as Tai froze for a moment and contemplated the importance to Summer.

They went over a large hill and saw their destination: The Gateway. It was just like Summer remembered it from a long time ago. Rusted cars crammed onto a road leading to the checkpoints deep within the Wall filled with the skeletons of innocent souls that never made it to safety. What she didn't remember from back then was the giant flaming hole in the wall and the gigantic Fallen Ketch parked near the road.

"I take it that's not supposed to be there?" Qrow said sarcastically, gesturing to the alien ship that would give an Atlesian battleship a run for its Lien as he readied his weapon.

"Nope." She said as she upholstered an assault rifle from her back and went into _serious mode_. "Get your weapons ready, no telling what we're going to face." Tai and Qrow loaded their weapons and kept their eyes open. They followed Summers lead as they made their way through the car wrecks and alien vehicles that were covered in tarps.

Drei scanned one of the vehicles. "This is definitely Fallen. Specifically, House of Devils. Why they're all covered I'll never know…" Drei stopped as he sensed something. Summer turned to her little light.

"Drei…?"

"I'm picking up Fallen chatter on a lot of frequencies along with movement all around us, but I can't seem to get a read on it." He said as he went back into her head out of sight. Summer scanned all around her, watching to see if there were any invisible Fallen around her.

"Uh Summer?" Tai said with a bit of worry in his voice. She turned and saw that Tai was standing perfectly still as several blue-red dots blinked to life all over his chest and head. Tracing back the dots, Summer turned to where they were coming from…the bow of the Ketch nearby. She spied several dozen Vandals all with Wire Rifles pointed in their direction. Immediately, her Icebreaker came out but she was distracted by a whine that sounded around them. Turning around, Summer saw twenty Captains decloak around them, scorch cannons leveled and aimed at their position. This complicated things. Summer knew that any move she made would pretty much guarantee her and her teammates death, and unlike her, there won't be any Ghost to revive them. So she lowered the sniper rifle and waited, watching as Dregs and other Vandals came out of small caves and from behind rusted cars and join their comrades, encircling Summer and her team in a progressively growing group.

Then, a Vandal came out of a nearby van and walked leisurely towards Summer. As he passed several Dregs and other Vandals, they all crouched low and bowed their heads in respect. This Vandal had bullet wounds and slashes all across his chest with a big scar going across his face. Summer smiled knowingly, because she was the one who gave him those scars.

"Hello Randal." She greeted, a slight smirk on her face.

"**Guardian Rose,**" The now identified Randal said in english. "**It's been a while.**"

"Friend of yours Summer?" Qrow said as he was held off by a few Dregs that had their pistols trained on him

"**This is Rahndel the Vandal!**" one of the Captains said in garbled english. "**Leader of the True Devils, the one who fought the Guardian Rose and lived!**" it said in a proud voice.

"Wait, I'm confused." Tai said. "Summer called you Randal, but this one," He gestured to the Captain that just spoke. "He called you Rahndel."

"I couldn't pronounce his Eliksni name, so I called him Randal, which is as close to his real name as anyone can get, and as I recall, when we fought, you lost!" Summer said smugly, thinking of many ways they can get out of this situation and recalling the battle they fought long ago.

"**You didn't beat me. It was a draw.**" Randal said.

"Was not."

"**Was too**."

"Was not."

"**Was too**."

Summer growled "Anyway, what do you want? Oh let me guess… you try to kill me and my friends, emphasis on _try, _so you can become Kell of the Devils and use whatever you found in the Cosmodrome to conquer all, am I right?" Thinking that she guessed his master plan. What she didn't count on was him laughing at her face.

"**Kill you**?" He said. He made a hand gesture to his fellow Fallen and they all lowered their weapons. "**As much as I would love to, we actually have common course.**"

00000

Randal led the trio through the walkways that laced throughout the wall. Summer walked behind him followed by a reluctant Taiyang and Qrow followed by at least four of the Scorch cannon wielding Captains and a small handful of Dregs. Qrow was trying to shoo the Dregs away from him, but according to them, "He smells like a bird." and they stuck to him like glue. Qrow silently cursed his semblance and his magical ability.

"So explain to me, again, why you're helping us?" Drei said as he materialised in front of Randal. He growled and repeated himself.

"**The Devils are more divided than ever before. The only reason we held on together as long as we did was due to my legendary status among my House. Some even wanted me to become Kell.**"

"Why didn't you?" Summer asked.

He growled in a laughing matter. "**Rahndel the Kell, doesn't have the same ring to it as Rahndel the Vandal**." He continued "**But, a disgraced Archon Priest by the name of Aksis returned and claimed leadership of the House. He and those closest to him found something called 'The Machine Gift', your SIVA, and used it to achieve apotheosis. They have become more machine than Fallen and are now distributing this "gift" throughout the House, starting with our Splicers.**"

Summer didn't know what Splicers are, but didn't like the sound of them at all.

"**After the Splicers were completely changed, they began changing the other members of our House, to become closer to the Machine God than ever before but some, along with myself resisted. We've seen what this SIVA can do, and rejected it outright. Now the House is split in two. On one side, a small minority are against it led by me. And the majority all follow Aksis and his faction.**"

"Wait, you are leading them?" Summer said.

"Just how many is your minority?" Tai asked.

"**My minority, as you call it, is in the low millions, while the majority is in the tens of millions. And as to your question, it helps when my, as you call, street cred is substantial, even the Barons and Captains listen and follow me.**" He gazed at Summer. "**Are you saying that the great God-slayer, Guardian Rose never used her many accomplishments/titles to get her way?"**

Summer was about to deny that, but remembered all those times she used her titles and accomplishments to get more cookies, ice cream or that Exotic Weapon before anyone else did.

"**As you can see by my Ketch back there,**" he gestured to the way they came. "**I've tasked myself to find every single member of my House not infected and leave.**"

"Wait, you're leaving the Cosmodrome?!" Summer said, quickly taking a mental note to tell Zavala.

"**For now.**" He said. "**The Splicers have every Fallen in the Cosmodrome on edge. Rumors say that even the Kings have been driven off by them.**"

Summers eyes widened in shock at this revelation, with Drei seemingly to also be surprised by this news.

"Yo, Summer, just who are these Kings anyway?" Qrow asked smacking away Dreg that was sniffing his flask.

"The Eliksni, or the Fallen, as these are called are divided into numerous Houses, each with their own customs and motives. Though they may be the same species, they don't get along with each other, except in the most dire of situations. The House of Kings are the most mysterious house known to us." Drei explained. "In all the years of fighting, we've only took out about four of their high-ranking members. And each house is composed of tens of millions of individuals. If these Splicers have managed to drive them all off when several hundred years worth of Guardians couldn't, it means that the situation is more dire than any of us had predicted.

Qrow and Tai paled at the thought of what these Splicers were capable of. Qrow took a swig from his flask and afterwards, shrugged and gave some to the Dreg that was sniffing for it. It took a sip and began to hack and cough. The rest of the group continued without paying attention to it, letting the sole Dreg suffer on its own.

The unusual group of Fallen and Humans exited the Wall and headed straight to a snow covered tank. "**This is as far as we'll go. Destroy Aksis before he causes more damage.**" Summer turned to follow her teammates. She stopped when Randal called to her.

"**Guardian Rose…**" She turned to address the true leader of House Devils.

"**Have you ever wondered, in this short amount of time, why I'm helping you? Despite my kinds overzealous hatred for you and our fight with each other?**"

"It's crossed my mind."

"**Do you remember the last time you encountered my House? The day you and your friend found a caravan containing many Eliksni children?**" Summer went silent, remembering that day so long ago. Having to fight her dearest friend protecting the children of her enemy.

"**One of them was my son, Baohb**". Her eyes widened.

"**You saved my child and that many others. By our traditions we, how do you humans say, owed you one. Consider my debt repaid. The next time we meet, it will be again as foes."** He then brought out his blades in both hands and made a gesture with them. Two blades pointed downward crossed with the remaining two pointed to the right and then bowed his head. He along with his followers cloaked back into invisibility, and the team watched as their footprints headed away in the snow.

00000

While the three waited for their ride, Tai was wondering why Summer was smiling after having just received a call from Frederick who eventually found there FOF(Friend or Foe) tags. He sighs as he looks up to the sky, but then something caught his eye.

"You ok Sum?" Tai asked

" I just remembered, there's something I'm pretty sure a old friend of mine is gonna say." Summer replied.

"What might that be." Qrow asked

"Well…" Summer Was cut off as a loud engine cut her off.

The three looked up to see a odd ship coming in, though the black and red color instantly made Summer smile. The ship came in for a landing, the back hatch opening as it did and a black and red titan stepping out. Pouches littered the titan's chest plate and a large kukri knife was sheathed on his left shoulder plate. The blood red visor of his helmet gave off the impression that it was frowning. His titan mark fluttered in the breeze as he stepped off the ship, the crossed rifles and lions head over a shield billowed over a canvas of red. He had a black bullpup rifle on his back and a magazine fed pistol strapped to a drop holster on his thigh. What caught almost everyone's eye though, was the sword this Titan carried with him. The handle was wrapped in red leather, with a carved roaring lion's head at the crossguard. The blade itself was a good four maybe five feet long. Inscriptions of an unknown language were etched down its length, but the aura they radiated made the hairs on Tai's neck stand on end.

The titan walked of the landing ramp and took a good look at the three of them. His silence was seething like he was out there for blood. For a moment, the tension in the air was palpable, which immediately broke down once Summer sprinted at him, a smile on her face as she latched onto his rather bulky arm.

"FREDDIE!" She shouted as he lifted his arm up like what Qrow did when he saw Ruby at Beacon do. "So big bro did ya miss me!? Did ya!?" And to the Huntsmen's shock. The intimidating posture of the Titan went away instantly with one soft answer.

"Nope." He replied with a joking attitude.

Summer got off his arm. But his visors gaze went to her arm. He saw the four hive runes glowing and held a particular malice against him. They all heard him sigh as he then looked back at the two Huntsman.

"I didn't know we had new bloods joining us. They're not gonna last like this." Frederick noted while observing Qrow and Tais gear.

"Excuse me, but who are you?" Tai questioned. "I've heard Summer call Cayde her uncle, but never heard of you."

"Names Frederick Mendez. A old friend of Summers. But we can waste time talking later. Lord Saladin is waiting for us." Frederick said as he turned around and walked up the ramp. "Oh you two newbies get on the side turrets."

As the other three entered the rather roomy ship. Frederick pointed to the turret controls on the sides of the bulkheads. Summer was about to get into the light artillery gun when Frederick tapped her shoulder, and tilted his head to the cockpit. She stepped down from the ladder, and followed him unto the cockpit. He sat in the pilot seat and rotated the seat to face Summer. He looked at her arm with the hive runes again the back to Summer who was looking at him oddly.

"You used it didn't you?" Frederick said.

Summer, knowing what he meant, and just sighs as her gauntlet and part of her body glove transmatted away to expose her forearm and the glowing hive runes. Whispers seemed to have echoed malice. Frederick narrowed his eyes at the runes. Almost instantly when he narrowed his own eyes with equal malice towards the runes did the glow go away. As if the runes had a soul of their own, and cowered at his intense stare. The only evidence that it was there was how they looked like they were ingrained into her skin.

"So you know anything that can get rid of it?" Summer asked.

"No. I can't. Even if I used my "serum", they would still remain. You invited the powers into your soul. You would have to want it out of you. So it's really up to you to keep using Thorn's powers, or you forsake it that power you wanted. Darkness is still Darkness. No matter how you use its magics." Frederick replied. "That's all I can say."

Summer looked away in shame. As her armor reappeared. Frederick sighs and got up out of his seat as the ship launched to go to Felwinter Peak. He put a reassuring hand in her shoulder.

"That doesn't mean I've forsakened you as my friend." Frederick said.

She smiled under her helmet and nodded.

"Now then, there was a autocannon you wanted to get onto?" He said with a rather playful tone.

"I've just got a question first." She said, her silver eyes glowing a bit in mischief. "I heard your friend Moses makes this amazing coffee. How does he make it?"

Frederick narrowed his eyes. "Please don't-"

"Hebrews it!" She says with glee, before quickly retreating to the autocannon. Frederick sighs in slight annoyance and a bit of mirth, just standing there and watching.

"_Looks like she's feeling better._" His Ghost said.

"Anything for a friend Naomi… though I wish she would stop that." Frederick replied as he sat back down.

He then pushed the throttle to accelerate his speed. Soon the mountains of Felwinter Peak came into view.

00000

The "Beauty for Ashes" hovered over the courtyard of the Iron Temple. The landing ramp opened up so that Tai and Qrow could jump out as did Summer and Frederick. Shiro-4 stood outside near the pillars of the Iron temple. Looking on. He saw the four approach.

"Frederick, you're back. With company I see. Though why are newbies here?" Shiro stated.

"They're not Guardians. Just a couple of Huntsmen from Remnant." Frederick replied

"Then they're not gonna last long out there. Not with that gear." Shiro said.

"I'll hook them up with uncommons later. Is Saladin inside?" Frederick asked.

"Yeah. He also has a new mission for you lot. Looks like your wife's gonna be pissed, you're not gonna be back soon." Shiro replied.

"Yeah… this is gonna suck." Frederick mutters as he walks past the doors.

The other three walked by Shiro. Summer waved hi to him, and he smiled and waved back. However, he gave a seething glare at Tai, who in turn felt the malice coming from the veteran Hunter and was somewhat scared a bit. The Hunter relaxed, as the three went through the large doorway.

What set them in awe as they walked inside was the grand architecture. Pillars and stone art was along the ceiling, as wood burned in heat hops along the halls and corridors providing warmth and light, while illuminating great statues of the Risen, the guardians of old. The fires also illuminated a figure in the middle of the room who turned and faced them at their approach.

"Welcome, Hunter Rose." the man spoke.

00000

**Dustiniz117: And that's it for now! Hope you all enjoy and remember to like and review. **

**In regards to several of our readers asking about Red War, Curse of Osiris, Warmind, Forsaken and the Seasons... Yes we will be doing those, just not anytime soon. First we're going to finish the SIVA Crisis ARC than the Shadows of Yor ARC of Remnant of an Iron Rose. On the subject of D2 and their expansions, we'll be dividing each one of them between the authors, myself included, that compose FireteamNero which would be posted on their own pages, but we haven't decided who gets what yet so please be patient. **

**For more information regarding the fight between Randal and Summer, see my Remnant of an Iron Rose Shorts: "The Vandal, the Rose and the Hive"(coming soon)**

**Diluation:Thanks Dustin, this actually gives me the chance to talk about something I've been wanting to address.**

**So some of you who do write, or at least the people who come to this category often wonder, are there tie-in stories to something as big as Ptabs's work?**

**Yes, actually, and all of them are considered canon. We've mostly left that untouched. I say mostly, because for you extremely observant folk(Looking at you OPP), I have something to announce regarding a specific one of them, and a writer I'm sure you're noticing is missing their A/N here.**

**Yep, we're talking about Animeak116 and his story Lonesome Wolf. As he is a part of our group, we have taken the time to read each other's tie-ins to the Remnant-verse(before you ask, no, my story is in no way connected to Ptabs's world, and it will never be.), and needless to say, everything was fine up to him. **

**I strongly suggest you don't go and read it right now, as we're currently in the process of editing his work, fixing grammar and continuity issues within his story. This is also to cause some delays for upcoming chapters, so you'll have to wait a little longer to get into the next chapter unfortunately.**

**This long ass AN all said and done, and my super secret statement of saying that I secretly fap to Ruby X Qrow, this is Diluation and Dustin from Fireteam Nero, and we hope you have a good day.**

**Diluation Edit:That was meant to be a joke of mine. I don't actually like the idea of shipping the two, something I thought was clear when I said I hated Enabler.**

**Apparently somebody must've accidentally deleted that when we covered ships, or didn't get through the copy paste for some obscure reason. Apologies for having offended anyone.**


	7. News

**Diluation:Dear readers of Remnant of a Rose, Iron Rose, anybody who's read Ptabs' work… it is with a heavy heart to that I must inform you; that Ptabs has passed away. He passed away due to an allergic reaction to a surgery complication a week ago. Before I give my peace, I will let the others speak first. Starting with those who worked on this project long before I have.**

**MElee: I'm terribly sorry about the loss. I have lost people like that from such circumstances and I hope he earns a good rest. He has my prayers from the bottom of my heart. And any works he has will not end up like RWBY and will remain to his original vision, however much we can muster. That said, I will pray for him and for his eternal rest.**

**Animeak116:Hey guys animeguy here… and well we just recently received news from Ptabs' brother that we lost our Head Guardian. We wish his family well in these rough times. Sufficient to say that's all I have for you. He was a great guy to get to know while we wrote our stories that were apart of his wonderful universe he made. I pray his family can get through this as it. And hope that the man above can show them through this. I have lost a lot of family members but never any people I could call a friend. Sure we had our disagreements on ideas but we still called one another friends. Anyways I pray that his family can get through these tough times. See you guys next time.**

**Dustiniz117: Ah dammit dammit dammit! Another good fanfic author has fallen. And unfortunately, there is no Ghost to revive him. But we, my fellow authors and I, will do our best to do his story right. We pray that his family can get through this time of mourning. **

**Aquilos: Hey guys, Aquilos here. I'm not very good with dealing with heavy emotional stuff so I'll keep my words as brief as I can. I may not have known Ptabs for long, but in the time I did, I fell in love with his work and writing. Everyone here had, otherwise we would not have decided to carry on his torch. I think many of us here on this team, imagined that this would be an eventuality, we were just praying that it would never come to pass. And yet here we are, living in the reality that the man who brought Fireteam Nero together has passed into the Light. I will miss him. I will miss him alot. But now, it has become even more important for me, for us, to carry his legacy on, for so as long as his work outlives him, he would not have died. **

**Diluation:I'm going to be outright on this with you guys… I kind of expected this. And it's not because I wanted him to go. This story is what brought me into the RWBY fandom, and is what inspired my own story. **

**I have long accepted that death is an inevitable part of life and I myself have seen so many people and loved ones pass during my lifetime, more than I think a person normally should. **

**I would go on, but… well, this isn't about me, and I only wished to be honest with you all about how I feel. It's Ptabs' family, especially his brother who has informed us this today, and is passing his notes to us, that need the shoulder to grieve on. I can only imagine what his family must be feeling right now. Knowing he could've lived, if not a little longer.**

**I apologize if the news has ruined your day like it had ours, but someone had to deliver. We will continue pushing on to make more chapters. May Ptabs find himself in a better place, whether it'd be enjoying the life of a super soldier kicking alien ass, or just simply knowing that we will keep moving on. Wherever he is now, I want to, we want to, let him know that we will keep up his legacy until the last flame dies and all words have been spoken. **

**And before we sign out, we would like to leave with you all the words of the late Monty Oum,**

* * *

**_"I believe that the human spirit is indomitable. If you endeavor to achieve, it will happen given enough resolve. It may not be immediate, and often your greater dreams are something you will not achieve within your own lifetime. The effort you put forth to anything transcends yourself, for there is no futility even in death." _**

**_― Monty Oum_**

**We are Fireteam Nero, signing out.**


	8. To Mars, To Rome, To Glory

**Diluation:We of Fireteam Nero apologize for the somewhat long wait. Ptabs' notes threw us for a huge loop. Think of it like derailing a train, and deciding the best way to get it back on the tracks was to take the entire train apart and piece it back together on the rails.**

**VATS:You could say it kinda RAILROADED them away, eh?**

**Diluation:And you just derailed the serious- omfg VATS.**

**Aquilos:You know that above analogy? Yeah, that pun was a second train crashing into the semi repaired train.**

**Diluation:Not you too! What pun-virus have you infected us with VATS?!**

**VATS:Well, this went way off the rails.**

**Aquilos:**_**VIOLENT ANGERY**_

**Diluation:We'll be right back.**

**Animeguy:...*sigh* god I'm surrounded by pun makers**

**Diluation:Oi, I didn't do this on purpose, his pun dragged me into it!**

**Dustinz's answering machine:**_**You have 1; old message; and 37; new messages.**_

* * *

"Great to be back Lord Saladin." Frederick stated feeling ignored.

Saladin then looked to the Huntsmen, a frown and a raised eyebrow visible on his face.

"They're warriors from Remnant sir." Frederick said.

Saladin hummed in thought, analyzing the two huntsmen, before nodding. "I imagine you four have many questions for me?" Saladin replied.

"Well yeah. Several come to mind?" Summer asked.

Saladin looked away, painfully staring at the statues of his fallen friends. Holding out his hand, he summoned his Ghost. It then used the light within it as a flashlight, lighting the stone art along the ceiling.

"For generations the Iron Lords were heralded out of this temple. For many a day during the Dark Age we fought for the people of our settlements, and destroyed those who would abuse the Traveler's gifts to oppress their charges, the Warlords. But we Iron Lords fought for justice. Truth. And the right to life that some have fallen short of with their greed."

He then looked at the stone art of many Guardians assaulting something.

"Many centuries ago, my friend Lord Felwinter found a Clovis Bray technology that could rival that of what we had hoped. We found SIVA. A nano technology that could create colonies. Worlds. And it could be ours for the taking. No need to scavenge for resources when we could make it ourselves. But the promise of such power blinded us from the obstacles ahead. We went to the Cosmodrome with more than a hundred Iron Lords, and met resistance of which we've never went up against before." Saladin grimaced, memories rushing forth as he spoke. Gunfire. Screams. His fallen comrades in arms.

He then looked at the Stone art, where they saw at least seven other individuals. "By the time we reached the Warmind bunker that housed SIVA, Felwinter looked into the database only to meet the one who activated frames and constructs on our earlier trek… Rasputin."

"What? Why would Rasputin do that?" Summer asked.

"To this day I do not know. But his response… was with SIVA. We were swarmed. It infected us...our armor and weapons...like a puppet on strings, it pitted us against one another."

Saladin then looked to the last Stone art, of which was him and a female Titan with a vault door closed and what looked like explosions vapor was enveloping the Female Iron Lord. "And since then, I removed all records of SIVA… only those who where alive at that time know only part of it. It had to be…" Saladin pauses. "Experienced first-hand, to truly understood the horrors we faced that day. That even as strong as we were, our light could still be snuffed out."

They then heard footsteps come into the room. As all eyes fell on the new comer. Saladin gently placed a hand on Lady Jolders statue. As if mourning a lost blood relative.

"But as history says Saladin. Those who do not face there past. Are doomed to repeat it." Said the new voice.

Saladin turned to see the old cryptarch that was his friend Tyra Karn.

"Perhaps what I have to say can be relevant?" Tyra said

"What do you have for me?" Saladin replied.

The old Awoken stepped further into the chamber and held up a tablet of her report.

"There's things that pertain to SIVA in the old Clovis Bray site on Mars. Perhaps our new friends should take a look?" she said while looking at the two Guardians and Huntsmen.

With a nod, Saladin looked up at the four.

"So, Guardian Rose. Ready to get back to work?" Saladin said.

Summer smiled and crossed her arms

"I thought you'd never ask." Summer said to the old Dark Age Iron Lord.

00000

Tai and Qrow started to feel a bit uncomfortable as Frederick went through several racks of personal armor sets that looked quite different from his own. The racks then stopped at a label called "uncommon". He started pulling out armor pieces from the shelfs and tossing them to there feet.

"Well strip. Those armor pieces don't go onto your bodies without a Ghost automatically." Frederick stated

He started going through Hunter armor as he was then done getting Tai sone Titan armor. Which was called the Highlander type 1. Qrow shrugged as Tai started getting his "Risen" armor off to put on the better gear. Fred then started to toss Qrow a Hunter set to his feet. It was called the "Snake line 4.5".

"So uhh, Fred was it?" Tai asked getting on the grieves.

"Yeah?" the Titan replied.

While grabbing the grieves to Qrows armor set.

"So you've known Summer for a while right?"

"I've known her for little over five years as a close family friend, yes."

Fred then went over to the weapon racks thinking on what type would be good for the two Huntsman.

"Do you know if she's seeing anyone?"

The weapon racks stopped abruptly, causing the two mortals to shiver in fear, as the cold red visor of Fred's helmet stares at Tai.

"You can not be talking about that now of all times…" Fred replied in surprise and annoyance.

"Look, we're no longer together now, and she's still a close friend-" he was however cut off

"If Cayde didn't make it clear when he punched you, and I know he did, she ain't seeing nobody. Not that I'd let you get near her anyhow." Frederick replied back to Tai with a tone of finality to his voice.

Tossing Tai a uncommon shotgun. Though it was magazine fed, and looked like a odd AK 47. Then he tossed him a brown snake pattern painted like hand cannon. He gave Qrow a long barreled rifle and a SBR scout rifle. The scout and sniper rifle looked like a AK 74 with the magazine in the butt stock and a Dragunov sniper rifle.

"Get to the turrets. We're heading to Mars in a minute."

They watched Frederick leave the small Armory, and slung their weapons onto their backs.

"I guess he knows our dust weapons are pretty much glorified clubs." Qrow stated getting out as well.

"I knew I shouldn't have asked." Tai lamented to himself, before leaving the armory too.

00000

The journey to the surface of Mars was both uneventful and hilarious. Hilarious when they transmatted out of their ships and Tai going headfirst into a sand dune getting a taste of Mars in his mouth. Uneventful when they haven't encountered a single enemy on their way to the City of Freehold. Tai and Qrow looked at the dilapidated and in some cases, sinking city in awe and in solemn silence. Both knowing that this city was a technological wonder, and a tomb for the humans that resided here.

As the group went through the quiet city, Summer frowned.

"What's wrong?" Qrow said, concerned as to why Summer was oddly silent.

"Something's off." She spoke, gauging her surroundings. "Normally this whole area would be swarmed with Cabal."

"What's a Cabal?"

"Cabal are a race of space-rhinos that spanned a large Empire with the sole purpose of conquering world after world. Usually it's for resources, a client race, or because the planet was in their way." She explained

"Ah, so a space alien version of Atlas?" Taiyang pitched in, having figured it out.

Summer nodded. "The reason why we haven't seen any Cabal, is that they lost the entirety of their leadership in the system, yours truly having dealt a big amount of the damage to it." Her silver eyes then shone a bit in mirth, recalling Zavala's introduction on a certain strike she did, which caused her to enter a imperial land tank outside of Rubicon. It was no small feat, as he was well protected, but Summer had the right team, and thus the Cabal warlord was no more, allowing guardian forces to have stronger position in Freehold.

"According to some Cryptarchs, the Cabal consider it taboo to promote oneself without proving themselves in conquest. So all the grunts of the Cabal war machine are following their previous orders of holding several key locations from the Vex, while giving up several others. The city of Freehold is one of the latter." Frederick said as he took in the surroundings before waving them forward. They entered a building that had the sigil of Clovis Bray on it and entered it, Drei giving the two Huntsman commentary.

"The company was founded by Clovis Bray in the early days of the Golden Age. He and his entire family for generations were responsible for numerous technological and scientific discoveries, that range from weapon manufacturing to city development to even the creation of AIs."

"Including this SIVA thing that we're looking for." Qrow said, as his eyes swept through the shadows.

The four warriors walked through the building then scaled down an elevator shaft that led into a plaza area inside the building. What they saw can be only described as massacre.

"I think we found out why we haven't seen any of these Cabal yet?" Tai said as he took in the carnage.

The room looked like it had been through five warzones. Corpses of Cabal, Psions and Fallen littered the place, with the two former outnumbering the latter 10 to 1. Scattered here and there were weird constructs that looked like a mass of red tentacles topped with black pyramids surrounded by a red cloud.

Drei scanned a nearby Cabal corpse. "Blast marks match Fallen Shrapnel Launchers, but the damage is far too big for for it." Drei then scanned a fallen corpse. "This one was a House of Kings Vandal. Emphasis on _was_. Now it's been augmented with biomechanical adaptations. There's an audio log here. I've translated most of it. Archiving it for Grimoire. Playing now."

"**Schlllllahhhh!"**

"**Little King, you shall serve Devil Splicers now."**

"**Never, loyal to Kings! Kings forever!"**

"**Your cooperation isn't **_**Consume~Enhance~Replicate**_** required. Soon all shall bow to Devil's Banner. All shall bow to Archon Prime"**

After it was finished playing, the four stood in silence until Tai broke it with a mutter. "Great, so these Devil Splicers are forcing their own kind into these things."

Drei then drifted near one of the black pyramid like constructs. As he got closer to it, the red cloud started to solidify into smaller red tentacles that reached out to Drei. As they got closer, he started to stutter and twitch, which made Summer flinch and clutch at her head. Noticing her discomfort, Frederick ran to Drei and swatted him away with his hand. With Drei far away, the red tentacles dissolved and went back to its previous form.

"That is SIVA." Frederick said gesturing to the construct. "This one, according to Lord Saladin is called a SIVA Node. It's basically a miniaturized version of a replication machine that creates SIVA in a localized area." He then pointed his weapon at it and fired a few bursts at it making it exploded into a shower of crimson sparks and retracted into the floor. Where it once was, is now a smaller back pyramid attached to a slim red tentacle. "They are also connected to one another. Where there's one, there is another, and another.

They continued through the plaza following the red tentacle and blasting at any other SIVA Node they come across, and went down a series of stairs through a doorway that led into a room with several large computer screens. Surrounding it were the bodies of Fallen vandals.

Frederick brought out his Ghost and it started to scan the computer, with Summer, Tai and Qrow coving them.

"**So, you're the Summer Rose I've been hearing about.**"

Summer looked towards the voice, and to her surprise saw one of the dead Vandals lift itself from the ground. It then began a metamorphosis before their horrified eyes.

Blood red tendons dotted with small black and red pyramids started to emerge from its wounds, its arms twisted and shifted from organic to biomechanical, and the bullet wound in its head leaked a blood-red cloud, and saw that it healed before their eyes.

"What the hell are you?!" Qrow let out in both shock and fear, pulling out his sword-scythe and aiming it at the undead fallen.

"**You can call me Aksis.**" It said, making a mocking bow towards its enemies.

Summer lifted her eyebrow. "So you're this Archon that's been leading these Devil Splicers I've been hearing about. I thought you'd be taller."

It laughed in a guttural tone, and hacked a glob of ether and SIVA onto the floor. "**Oh you mean this?**" it said gesturing to its decayed body. **"I'm not really here, per say. I'm just using one of my departed as my eyes and mouthpiece, to see and speak to you personally.**"

Tai nearly threw up in his mouth. This Aksis was speaking through the dead using SIVA as a connection.

Beep~beep~beep

"**Oh sidebar…**" it said gesturing to a cylinder-like construct in the far corner. "**That is a Golden-Age Portable Generator. In the past it could temporarily power this entire building as the main generator is turned off and repaired. I've augmented it personally with the Machine Gift to **_**Consume~Enhance~Replicate**_** to destroy all data in the event of non-Fallen entering this room. And you just triggered it!**"

The screens behind them flared to life and the symbol for SIVA appeared on the screens as the beeping sound escalated. Tai, being the one closest to the construct, tried to punch it to oblivion using the butt of his shotgun. As his weapon approached it, a swarm of SIVA nanites surrounded it and attacked him. The shotgun was swarmed by the nanites before it erupted with small red tentacles writhing around. He dropped his weapon in disgust just as he felt a burning sensation on his hand and his Aura flickered around the appendage. He pulled back as the pain was too great and examined his hand. His hand looked like it just recovered from a 2nd degree burn.

"It's deleting everything in the system!" Frederick's ghost cried out. "Everytime I grab a file, three files are deleted. At this rate, there won't be much of anything to recover."

"Drei, help em out!" Summer said to her ghost, hoping that two ghosts working on it might get twice the information.

"**Once it's finished destroying all information, it will unleash a highly concentrated dose of the Machine Gift, killing and infecting all within the room. I've seen what it can do to you Guardians, the results are...glorious. Your deaths will solidify my rule over all fallen in the system. Once word gets out that I've killed not only the Demon of House Devils, but the White Rose herself, all will bow before-"**

Whatever he was about to say was interrupted when Qrow whipped out his scythe and sliced the body so fast his arms were a blur. When he was finished his converted it back into sword form as the body fell into tiny pieces, so small that not even SIVA can repair it.

"**As I was saying…" **The voice of Aksis said as he raised another dead vandal onto its feet as it went through the same metamorphosis as the previous one.

"**In the event that you have disabled the device, I'm sending down an old friend of the White Rose down to personally end you all. To be fair, he was dead for several years, so we had to replace a few body parts with... others."**

As he finished, something large fell down the elevator shaft. The group looked to it just in time to see their enemy, **Riksis, The Devil Returned**, getting up from having busted through the entrance. His body now less Fallen than it was machine, having cybernetic arms and legs instead of normal fallen limbs. He now had a SIVA node for a head that was enclosed, preventing damage to his being as it generated a force field of nanites. A bright red battery was on his chest, making it clear how they were going to kill him if they were to get this data out alive.

Riksis released a challenging, bestial roar to Summer Rose, and created a SIVA charge in his hands, before slamming it down into the ground around him, the virus spreading to the dead Fallen and Cabal, resurrecting them to fight at his side.

"You know, you should've looked at the fine print of your contract before accepting them, Riksis." She said, as she popped her arcblade, Boltcaster as the catalyst. "The devil is in the details."

She then dashed forth at the horde of enemies to quickly thin the herd, Tai and Qrow firing at Riksis from afar.

(Play 'Red' - "Who we are")

Frederick however was motionless, shock momentarily taking him as memories flooded through him. The pressure in the air seemed to shift, causing Tai and Qrow to shiver. He then put his rifle on his back and took out his sword. It glowed a bit with solar energy as if it was fueled by its rage. The sight of Riksis ignited a intense rancor, what once was a calm, steadied fire, now a out of control inferno. He brandished his sword for all to see, the eyes of the fallen widening with fear at the sight of that blade with its inscriptions that have torn through Fallen like paper in the past.

"RIKSIS!" He shout in a rage filled roar.

Summer had all but cleared most of the Fallen. But the Cabal were another story. She had made a few good dents to the old Archon she had killed many years prior after having to do so to get a FTL drive from it. Narrowly dodging a swipe from a Cabal's SIVA bladed slug gun, and thrusted her arc blade into its abdomen.

Frederick slashed his sword at a SIVA infected Captain taking its shields and ripped it in half with infected blood splashing against the floor as the upper body cease to exist in a burst of Solar energy. A Vandal tried slashing at his back with its shock blades, only for it to be split in half down the middle by the very same blade. There was no fluidity to his motions. Just pure rage as he barreled through the Fallen in a attempt to rush down Riksis. Riksis looked on in amusement at the two Guardians.

"_**Finally. Vengeance; a long awaited battle at hand...**_" It's vocal processor uttered out.

This only enraged the Titan even more, as he joined Summer in the assault. A Phalanx tried to thrust its shield at him. For a moment, the Phalanx thought it had knocked him out.

But fear gripped its biomechanical revived heart when it saw Fred's helm turn to its direction. Red dots glowed brighter than his blood red visor. Tai and Qrow had all but froze at the killing intent that the Titan was letting off now. And it scared them to their core at the Titans eyes. In one fluid motion. They saw the Titan ripped the Phalanx shield from its arm. Taking the limb with it and held in one hand. The Cabal made the mistake of looking into the red eyes of rage. Its own eyes widened.

"_**So this is why he's known as 'Demon of House Devils'... huh.**_" Aksis thought, momentarily impressed by the sheer pressure he felt from the stare.

The Titan ripped the shield out of the Cabal's grasp, and thrusts it into the phalanx. The spikes at the bottom went through the now broken armor, pinning it into the wall. Tai and Qrow were utterly shocked at the sudden shift in the Titan's mood, stopping their ranged assault for a few moments, and allowing 6 stealth vandals the chance to rush them down. Much to their bad luck however, their blades came an inch away from hitting Qrow, and Tai was able to jump in the air doing a double spin kick mid-air that knocks out two of them, and he then grabs a third one, throwing it over him and slamming its head into the ground, breaking its neck.

Qrow reacted almost as fast as Tai did, and shotguns a vandal before transforming into a bird, jumping on top of a boiler, shotgunning a vandal from up on his perch.

As the fight went on, the Fallen and Cabal managed to push Summer into a corner, dozens of them surrounding her.

Or so they thought, as Summer spun in the air with her blade, releasing a wave of arc light that disintegrated them all.

Riksis just narrowed its red glowing eyes and let out a guttural roar again, as its minions had been taken out by Rose. But he was silenced when a mighty roar came from Frederick, as he unleashed his sword's exotic ability. A ball of fire then launched out of the sword, taking the form of a lion's head. The fallen had no time to react, as its fiery fangs plunge deep into the SIVA synthetic flesh, before exploding. Riksis' eyes widen, the fiery explosion having cauterized the wound inside of him, his shoulder now burnt,

The Fallen held its side and shoulder. It glares at the four warriors with disgust for a moment, before two hallway doors opened up and a SIVA tentacle came out of each one and wrapped around the distracted pro huntsmen by the ankle. It then flipped both of them onto the ground with a loud thud. They cried out in both panic and fear as the tentacles pulled them through the doors, closing with them on the other side. Frederick and Summer barely noticed it, and saw them as they went through the doors.

"NO!" Summer yelled out in a panic. She runs to the doors, breaking through them with a swift strike across the door.

Frederick looked at Summer then back to Riksis. Then back to her again. Using his Solar ability. His blade was lit ablaze every once and awhile a lion's head would gleam off of it growling a bit for every head. He then turned to Riksis like he had just killed someone important to him. And held his blade up.

"_**First you.**_" Riksis pointing at him; a mechanical finger going across his throat. _**"Then the Rose and her little friends."**_

"I'm going to make you pay for what you've done." Was all he said, as the two entered a combat stance.

00000

Tai struggled to get his foot free from the SIVA tentacle dragging him along the ground. Sometimes lifting him up a but just to slam him down to daze his body from reacting.

_**SLAM**_

It happened again. He then remembered the handcannon at his thigh from early having only ever using the shotgun till he lost it when the tentacle grabbed him and made his grip loose. He pulled out the red handcanon from his thigh holster and took aim at a ball of bloated SIVA that had the nanobots floating around it. He fired three shots into it before it exploded and the tentacle dissipated into nothing. His ankle free he got up and reloaded the gun with a new cylinder. Looking about his new surroundings. He was in an unfamiliar hallway.

"Fucking perfect." He stated to himself.

He then looked about the hall for some sort of reference point. He soon saw arrows pointing down a hall saying "Data storage". Slowly walking about and keeping his gun level. He then came across another hallway that forked off. He then heard a click of a weapon and turned around only to see Qrow.

"Qrow thank the gods. I thought you were something else." Tai said

Qrow however looked over Tais shoulder and saw something behind him.

"GET DOWN!" Qrow shouted to Tai.

Tai did so and Qrow fired three rounds into whatever was walking towards them with his harbinger he managed to keep on him. Though he did lose the sniper rifle when he was grabbed by the tentacle top. The walking thing fell down as its head was blasted off. Tai and Qrow took a second to look at the body. It was human. But SIVA infected it. Qrow and Tai had to remove their helmets to puke.

"What in god's name is that!?" Qrow stated in disgust.

"I think this was once a Guardian... Aksis said that the results on guardians was impressive or something. Maybe they kidnapped regular villagers and experimented on regular people?"

"I swear if this is gonna turn into one of those zombie movies-"

A ding sound was heard and an elevator door opened up. SIVA infected humans, awoken, and exos walked out of it, cries of anguish and hunger filling the room as they poured out, rushing down the huntsmen.

"Resident Remnant Vendetta vibes much?" Tai said in a slightly irritated manner

"You know the way back to Summer and Frederick?" Qrow asked

"I do." Tai replied back, as he aims his hand-cannon at the horde. "Not like I'd wanna be running and screaming for help for something as minor as this to them."

(Play Flesh & Metal - Doom 2016 0:00)

They then saw behind them more SIVA infected humans. Two SIVA humans tried to rush down Tai, but were quickly dealt with two headshots from Peccadillo's Grace, other he bashed into a wall. Another managed to get their arms around Tai's torso, and push him back with superhuman strength, Tai being forced to hold its head back as it tried to bite him. He shoved his knee up into the attacker's stomach, it howling in pain as it let go of Tai, as he then suplexed the zombie and threw it. He then pulled out the gun, firing a round into its head.

Qrow had dodged a swing from an arm as he fired a round into the chest, causing it to fall. He fired his shotgun as he jumped backwards again and again keeping distance, the zombie horde trying relentlessly to catch him, stumbling over each other. He swapped to his sword, and dashing forward with incredible strength, quickly cleaved through into the horde, blood, guts, and wiring from infected exos flying everywhere, as he flew past them and over into the other side of the room.

"Uh, Qrow?!" Tai called out from where he was, which was the side of the room he just left. "Forgetting about someone over here!?" He continued, as he kept firing into the horde.

"I got a plan!" Was all Qrow said, as he transformed into a bird and went to the elevator, diving in between the cracks.

"WHAT PLAN INVOLVES LEAVING ME TO BE A ONE MAN ARMY?!" Tai cried out, as he emptied all his rounds into the zombies

Qrow then jumped through the elevator hatch, landing in a crouch as he looked to the zombies. "Hey shiteaters!" He goaded with a cocky tone to his voice.

Even though their primary desire was to gobble up Tai and turn him into one of their own, some part of the horde's collective brain made them turn to Qrow, who held his arms out to the sides.

"Come and gets some, freaks!"

The zombies then shifted their attention to Qrow rushing at him. Qrow does nothing but wait for them, as Tai looks on in concern for his friend. Just as the zombies began to board, Qrow jumps through the elevator's hatch, the zombies continuing to pile and flood through the hatch. He transforms once more, and after a few seconds, the elevator begins to creek, before the line snaps, sending the undead screaming back into the abyss, with only a few zombies standing at the edge of the now destroyed elevator entrance.

Seeing his opportunity, Tai rushes forth, and kicks them off the cliff as Qrow slips through, assisting Tai in his venture. As they begin to deal with the last zombie, Summer catches up to them, Gjallarhorn at the ready for whatever big bad enemy she thought would be handling Tai and Qrow. Tai and Qrow look to her.

"Oh I'm sorry, is that what you brought that for?" Tai motions to the zombie, who he holds by the head. Qrow was getting ready to smack it into the abyss with the flat end of his sword, holding it like a bat.

Her Gjallarhorn transmats back into Drei's data storage, as she smiles at them in relief. She looks at the zombie. "I suppose Aksis gotten a little wild with the SIVA?"

"You could say that again." Qrow says, before he bats the body off the head of the zombie, it falling into the abyss. "Remind us to scrub this thing clean of SIVA when we're done. Kinda want it as a trophy."

"I don't think Saladin would approve of that." Drei made to comment. "Either way, we should probably get back to Frederick."

As Drei finishes his sentence, a massive pillar of SIVA then rises out from where the elevator fell, a giant mechanical eye looking at them with a mouth of chainsaw teeth as it filled the entire elevator. Its body mainly composed of the enemies that had fallen below, the jaws of human, awoken, and exo heads sporadically spread out all around the monstrosity.

The three look at each other for a moment, Tai's and Qrow looking at her with a darkened expression. It wasn't long until Summer spoke up, wielding Thorn as she did so. "I'll admit it, this is probably my bad for jinxing it."

(Play Flesh & Metal Doom 2016 2:08)

The eye then fired a series of lasers at them, of which the group dived out of the way, firing at the wall of SIVA with their own weapons, all aiming at the eye. The mouth opened up to let loose droves of mechanical arms, all intending to grab at the huntsmen and Summer.

Qrow rushed to defend, cutting down the arms as they came. Summer, meanwhile, had transmatted the Gjallarhorn back into her hands, and began firing off rounds into the pillar's mouth. The mouth seemed to cringe in pain, before it coughed up three SIVA worms that slid across the floor, flying straight at them. Tai uses his shotgun on one of them, before grabbing the second one by the tail, using it like a club to beat down the third to death. He then throws the second one onto it's back, placing a boot on its underside before firing his shotgun into the head of it.

The eye let loose a series of rapid-fire laser shots as the mouth closed, this time hitting the huntsmen and Summer, who's shields flashed were whittled down to nothing in a matter of seconds as Tai and Qrow flew back from the damage, aura protecting them. Summer grit her teeth, as a couple lasers hit her armor, singing her flesh.

She swaps Gjallarhorn for Thorn, but not before getting grabbed by a mechanical arm that slipped through the beast's mouth. She falls to the floor as Thorn falls out of her grasp, the arm pulling her in. She digs her knife into the floor, metal screeching as the beast's grasp proves strong enough to forcefully pull Summer over regardless.

"Summer!" The two cried out, rushing to their teammates aid without pause. They were too far away, however, as Summer was already beginning to near the beast's mouth.

Much to the beast's bad luck, however, it didn't account for Drei suddenly decloaking, and ramming himself into the Gjallarhorn's trigger, which was conveniently aimed at the beast's mouth. It cries out in agony, releasing Summer of its grasp as she lays at the edge of the doorway. It then attempts to lean forward, trying to take a bite out of the building in order to devour Summer whole. It doesn't get the chance to, as Qrow lunges forwards, digging Harbringer's scythe form into the beast's eye, which was all it could take.

The monster lets out a howling death cry, as the flesh and metal then separates, falling back into the abyss.

The three take a breather as they watch it fall, before looking over to Drei and the Gjallarhorn.

"I… I did it!" Drei replied cheerfully. "I killed it!"

"Nah," Qrow replied back with a smirk, drinking a bit from his bottle. "That was all me."

00000

(Play Red-Release the panic "recalibrated")

Frederick flew across the room and slammed against the wall before crashing into the ground, his pulse rifle clattering out of his hands. Recovering from the impact he sprung back up and rushed at Riksis again, narrowly dodging a blow from the Fallen's fists. Tai took the opportunity grab Fred's pulse rifle and distract the beast with some covering fire. Frederick got three debilitating strikes into Riksis' legs before it slammed its fist into the ground causing Fred to get knocked back. Driving his sword into the ground, Frederick used the makeshift anchor to get back onto his feet.

Riksis then used SIVA to reshape the broken shock cannon into a sword. Clutching it in one of its hands, the Fallen rushed at Frederick in a flurry of blows. Frederick was beaten backwards as he did all he could to avoid getting cut and was finally able to get a solid parry in. With the Fallen momentarily stunned from the parry, Frederick spun around and knocked the sword out of Riksis' grip before making a sweeping cut at the battery housed on the Fallen's chest. The SIVA Archon screeched and fell back, breathing heavily, the shield above his head now gone, leaving him exposed. Frederick and Tai quickly aimed their weapons at its head and started magdumping into it. Bracing under the constant hail of lead, Riksis realized they had found his weakness, and reacted immediately by slamming the ground, releasing a shockwave that once again threw Frederick back. The Titan broke his fall with his sword before skidding to a stop in front of Summer.

"Aim for the battery on his chest!" Frederick said his eyes no longer red with rage, unable to be seen under his visor.

Riksis released a growl as it retrieved his sword and readied into a stance. Frederick ran forward and swung his blade aiming to disarm Riksis. As the Fallen recoiled from the hit, Frederick lobbed a grenade onto the exposed battery, but there was now SIVA metal covering it. The grenade exploded chipping off some armor but left it mostly unaffected. Summer continuously fired at it from afar, doing somewhat damage to the heavily protected battery. Riksis then brought down the broad side of his own blade at Frederick's neck, which the titan expertly countered and responded with his own counterattack.

Frederick thrusts his blade into the Riksis' shin, and the Fallen howled in pain leaving the rest of the battery exposed. Taking the opportunity, Frederick pulled out his holstered sidearm and fired seven rounds into the now again exposed battery. Pain coursed through Riksis' body as the Fallen's legs malfunctioned, forcing him to his knees. Frederick took the chance to empty the rest of his sidearm's magazine into the Fallen at point blank range.

He then jumped back to avoid Riksis second go at trying to slam its fists onto Frederick. Its face mask was nearly broken. The regenerative barrier was beginning to distort, the mechanical body weakening after a long, drawn out battle...

Realizing his chance to end this now, Frederick threw aside the empty pistol and began to chant in a language that had not been uttered for generations on Earth. Each syllable echoed with a primal power that made the air around the room feel cold. Tai felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on its end he heard Frederick's words. Undecipherable, but they bore their intent as clear as day.

Suddenly, Frederick's body was set ablaze with a brilliant light. Drei looked back at Frederick who was giving off a powerful aura of light he'd never seen, and could only stare in astonishment. Wings of light grew across Frederick's back, and his sword became sheathed in the harsh rays emanating from him. Riksis looked at his challenger, and immediately felt the terrifying presence that Frederick radiated. So explosive was this sudden burst of power that the SIVA battery collapsed from the strain. Riksis felt himself unable to move, his modified heart having finally given out.

Frederick pulled his sword from the concrete and rushed forth, almost looking like he teleported in front of Riksis. The SIVA Archon could only watch as a blast of solar light washed over him, the SIVA augments, unable to adapt to the heat in time began to overheat.

Riksis lifted its head up again to see Frederick, who grabbed him by the neck and threw him into the air with a primal scream of rage. Riksis' eyes widened in fear as Frederick raised his sword. He hurled the Archon into the air, the Archon screaming in his fallen language, as Frederick flew up, and swung his sword upwards through Riksis, cleaving him in two. Frederick watched in the air as Riksis' bisected form fell to the ground. The Archon's eyes had changed back from an infectious red to a calm shade of blue before going out completely.

"Rest easy, Riksis." Frederick stated lowly. He looked back at Tai who was still in awe at what Frederick did. Frederick flew back to the ground and dispelled the wings as Tai handed him back the black pulse rifle.

"What was that?" Summer asked, still stunned by what she saw.

"Nothing for the time being. Don't worry about it." Frederick replied, as Qrow and Tai then rushed in.

"We found some extra data lying around." Tai said, as he walked up to the remains of Riksis, retching a bit. "Nothing too big. Something about the location of a powerful SIVA engine hidden within the Cosmodrome, and how to utilize it to essentially make a never-ending factory of guns." Summer's face visibly lit up at the prospect of that.

"Sounds like something we should make note of." Frederick's ghost commented, as she turned to look at the group. "Drei and I were able to extract some data as to how we're going to do some serious crippling to the splicers. Think we should head back to Saladin?"

"Can I hear more about this endless gun factory?" Summer asked with childish glee.

"Later pipsqueak, we got a planet to save, two if it gets outta hand." Qrow said as he dragged her out by the cape.

* * *

**Diluation:Right, now that the pun marathon is over, let's get back to it.**

**As I said before, Ptabs' notes threw us through a buncha loops, because as it turns out, Ptabs' did make plans for the Red War, and plans regarding Rahndel, which effected all of our plans, and caused some serious debate on whether or not we should follow through with the notes.**

**Aquilos and I also got smacked in the face with finals, which mainly left us to edit the story out and modify some bits of it that just didn't work. So in other words, a lot of the story writing here was done by Animeak and Dustinz, so big thanks for them covering our butts and laying down most of the chapter work.**

**Animeguy: Aww thanks Diluation you really do care. **

**Diluation: ...**

**Animeguy: Oh sorry do continue. **

**Diluation:We've also decided to do some stuff regarding the tie-ins to Ptabs' work. Don't worry, everyone is still canon at this very moment, the guy in charge of "Mapping A Forgotten World" is still up and going, he just gotten side-tracked by life. We've also went to do some editing for the other fireteam members' tie-ins, which is still very much in progress.**

**Now, with that out of the way, onto the reviews. We will not be including reviews that were posted in the news chapter, as we intend to respond only to plot-related reviews. Rest assured, however, we have all read your kind words on the news chapter.**

**Iron lord gore:I will say this, I do want to see team rwby on earth but honestly only for a chapter or 2, if only to kill sepiks (in the strike) or like sepiks Jr ya know? I mean seriously talk about like mother like daughter.**

**Diluation:Unfortunately, team RWBY isn't going to be heading to Earth.**

**This has been Fireteam Nero, and we hope you enjoyed the read.**

_**~ In Memory of Ptabs0101 ~**_


	9. Remnant Brought to Light

**So a few things before we start. One, apologies for the long ass time between this chapter and the previous one but Fireteam Nero had to attend to real life matters before we could write. On top of that, there was a lot of discussion for plot points and storylines for the future that needed to be sorted out so we could gradually build towards them. For this chapter, we're gonna be taking a look at what's been going on in Remnant while Summer is off on Earth. All That being said, thank you for sticking with us, and enjoy. - Aquilos**

"Ooohhh, I'm so excited!" Ruby squealed, as she looked around the various stalls and weapon vendors.

"Careful, sis." Yang said with a smile. "Can't have you drooling on them yet."

To help get their leader out of her depressed state, Weiss, Yang, and Blake decided to take her to a weapons convention, where a militaristic exchange was held between Remnant's multi-weapon technology, and the advanced, yet simplicit designs of Earth's regular weapons. Exotic guns, legendaries, and even pieces of armor were up on display, with gunsmiths from factions and non-factions chatting about how they can improve them. Normally, this sort of thing would be blocked off to a bunch of kids.

But Ruby didn't fawn over weapons for no reason. Being the expert she is on weapons, and the daughter of Summer Rose, she was one of the first invited to such a convention, with the special permission of dragging her team along. Even then, she couldn't help but feel honored.

And go ballistic on the unique designs that the weapons had.

"OHHH LOOK AT THIS!" Ruby squealed with delight.

Especially at a sword with a foreign inscription on it with a lion's head at the cross guard.

"That missy is called 'Aslan's Claw' Forged by the Legendary 'Demon of the House of Devils'." Said the vendor who wore warlock garbs with a cross necklace around his neck with a thick Scottish accent.

"You know nothing good comes from a title that has 'Devil' and 'Demon'." Blake stated.

Only to get elbowed by Weiss.

"Whats it do!?" Ruby asked in curiosity.

"Look up at the jumbotron with a CRUCIBLE match going lassie. One of the competitors is using it."

On the jumbotron a female Titan had just slid to a heavy ammo crate and touched it connecting the ammo to her sword which was brandished for all to see. She then started going at the enemy Guardians one by one as she started taking over Control points. Then the enemy team made a mistake by bunching up together in a hallway in the arena.

The Titan smiled as she channeled the sword's power, and a fireball in the shape of a lion's head came out point-blank range at a warlock, decimating him. It then rose from the guardian's corpse along with a second lion then, and sought out the rest of the unfortunate guardians in a pile. A titan had managed to pop a barricade in time, but it proved fruitless, as the heads slipped inside, creating an explosion that wiped the whole group.

Ruby just looked in awe at how the weapon was utilized despite the fact it wasn't a gun, yet also was. She with that sword. Held off six Guardians by herself as her teammates where not scene. Weiss, Blake, and Yang just had their jaws dropped at the sheer power the one strike had snowballed into. As well as how Titaness held off six Guardians by herself and still win.

"HOW MUCH!?" Ruby practical screamed at the vender.

"Easy there Miss. Cayde is still trying to deal with the trades. As of now, these weapons here are just for show." The Scottish sounding Warlock stated holding his hands in the Air. "Simply to start buyer interest and preorders."

Ruby then did the next best thing. The "Puppy dog eye no jutsu". The vendor began to look around nervously until an idea struck him.

"Alright Lassy, but I don't want to get into trouble with Cayde." The Warlock Vendor replied.

"You take Glimmer right?" Ruby asked

"Lassy, if your going to bribe me you're shat put of luck love." He then smiled. "Just talk to Cayde. I do warn ya though, the other Vendors except maybe 'New Monarchy' are a bit more sleazy. Watch your back in the FWC, and Dead Orbit sections." The Vendor stated.

Ruby didn't pay much attention to that. Not that she needed to, since Summer had told her everything about them.

She then continued moving from stand to stand, almost at blinking speeds as she quickly looked at weapons, and only stopping to ask questions about some of the weapons. It was with such speed, and with such curiosity, that somebody couldn't help but chuckle from within the crowd.

"Just as curious as your mother I see." Byf started out with a smile on his face, catching the attention of RWBY.

"Byf!" Ruby then ran up to him. "How come we didn't go over these weapons in class?! There's so many AMAZING weapons here, like there's this weapon that can freeze people, a fusion rifle that leaves spiky little needle bombs behind, a-"

"Miss Rose," Byf interrupted the excited Rose. "Not all of these weapons are significant to Earth's history with a few exceptions. Take for example…" He gestured to a booth featuring a familiar rocket launcher. "The Gjallarhorn shoulder-mounted rocket system was designed and personally crafted by Feizel Crux as a gift to the Guardians who fought in the Battle of twilight Gap. Forged from the armor of the thousands who fell, to wield Gjallarhorn is to wield honor against any attempt at our extermination. "

"Exotic weapon?" Blake asked.

"Certainly looks exotic." Weiss said taking in the details of the rocket launcher, while simultaneously making sure Ruby doesn't drool on it.

"Yes, we Guardians classify our weapons based off how much damage they make on our enemies, how much Light is infused into the weapon, and on how much they are massed produced to the public. From lowest to highest: they are Common, Uncommon, Rare, Legendary and Exotic." Byf said gesturing them to follow him to a nearby booth run by a representative of Future War Cult, which was teeming with Atlesian soldiers. He nodded his head at the vendor and waved to the weapons on display.

"You see the white and green lettering on the side and handles of these weapons? These indicate that the weapons are classified as Common and Uncommon. White being Common and green being Uncommon, blue for Rare, purple for Legendary and yellow for Exotic. Great for newly resurrected Guardians or civilians who have never handled a weapon before."

"But Professor Byf, why not give them Legendary or Exotic Weapons the second newly made Guardians arrive or regular people?"

"Ruby, remember what happened when you were six and handled a weapon for the first time?" Yang said.

00000

"_Daddy! I wanna twi the big gun!"_

"_Honey, it's too big for you."_

"_Oh come on, I knows how to shoot…"_

_Bang!_

"_Ah, my kneecaps I need them to live!"_

"_Ahh I'm on fire!"_

00000

Brought back from her brief trip down memory lane, Ruby said, "In my defense… it was a small fire."

"It wasn't." Yang said.

"Warlock Byf!"

The sea of Atleasian soldiers parted before the approaching Specialist Winter Schnee.

"Winter!" Weiss said as she approached her big sister for a hug, relieved that she has recovered from the Vex attack on Beacon.

Bop!

Weiss rubbed the top of her head with her hand where Winter just popped her with her own hand.

"Dear sister, have I not taught you anything?" Her older sister said raising her eyebrow at her.

Weiss remembered and curtsied to her elder sibling. "I am overjoyed that you have recovered."

Winter smiled at her sister and turned to the Warlock. "We have a situation. An unknown individual appeared out of nowhere. I require your expertise."

Winter led the group through the crowds towards a far corner of the large room where a hunched figure in black was surrounded by a squad of Atlesian Knights with a small group of Guardians nearby that were fortunately stationed on Remnant for this occasion. Huntsmen and huntresses looked on in confusion, but made no move to interrupt.

"Come on, let him sell!"

"We want those Exotics!"

"I've been saving my Strange Coins for this moment!"

"Please tell me you have Hawkmoon, it's the only one I don't have..."

Said individual was a hunched backed figure in black carrying a large backpack. When he turned towards the approaching group, the four huntsmen in training got a good look at its yellow eyes and lack of face. Instead of a face was a mass of smoke .

Byf took one look at him and became both surprised and curious. "Well, this is a suprise! Ladies, may I introduce Xur, an Agent of the Nine." He bowed to the agent in greeting.

"I bring gifts, from the Nine." the now introduced Xur said as he emptied his backpack bringing out Exotic weapons and armor. The second he took the weapons out, Yang used every ounce of her strength to hold on to Ruby's cloak as she ran to inspect them with stars in her eyes.

"What are the Nine?" Blake asked looking at Xur with some nervousness. Her faunus senses were going nuts just looking at him. They were telling her to be wary and cautious around him.

"That is an interesting question Miss Belladonna, one that even us Guardians don't have an answer to." Byf said.

"What do you mean?"

"There are numerous theories as to what the Nine really are. Some say that they are Awoken that have evolved into another state of being. Another is they are Ghosts that have been to the very edge of the Sol system and have been changed. In regards to the Nine, they are the most mysterious entities in our system."

Winter waved her hand. "No matter what they are, this is a first contact scenario. Given that this is a Weapon Expo and he is obviously allied with Guardians present, he will be allowed to showcase his wears, but he will be watched. Now if you excuse me, I have security to attend to." She snapped her fingers and two of the Atlesian Knights flanked her on both sides.

As they passed the group, she turned to her sister and said. "It was good to see you dear sister, we should have tea sometime."

Xur finally took note of Ruby, turning to her. "You, daughter of Rose."

Ruby turned to the voice and saw that Xur was approaching them.

"Me?" She asked innocently as Xur looked her in the eye.

"You are of interest. Accept this gift from the Nine." He said as he extracted a small object from his cloaked form and placed it into her palm and went back to his original spot.

Ruby eyes lit up as she looked down into her hand and saw the object. It was a small circular stone branded with three symbols, each of them a circle, but each one was different. One had three lines going through the circle, another four, and the last one in two.

"Weird…" She muttered to herself.

Byf looked at the stone in Ruby's hand. "Interesting, the Nine almost never give gifts to anyone."

"What does it mean?" she asked as she pocketed the stone.

"It means that they have invested in your future as a defender of the world. Now come little one, let us enjoy the rest of the expo."

Ruby followed Byf and the rest of her team to the next section of the Expo, never telling either one of them of the whispers she heard when she touched the stone, for it was for her ears and hers alone.

_**When mortal angels mourn the dead, and the orphans wage war over the light with shrouds of darkness, use the stone to return the light. **_

00000

Cayde leaned back on a balcony with Barloc and Sienna Kahn, chatting about rebuilding the White Fang. It was mostly about the recent attack of a village from White Fang sleeper Cells. So far, they and the bandits, have been the primary cause of villages disappearing as of yet in Anima or Mistral to the uneducated or vulnerable. Guardian forces have been sweeping up the sleeper agents that have been causing problems, in the kingdom, but it's still wasn't enough.

The group at the moment, were overseeing a particularly high-value prisoner transport on the ground entrance with Sienna. They watched as White Fang terrorists walked into the ground portal, with varying expressions among them.

"The current batch of Prisoners are mostly mass murderers, serial murderers, and varying degrees of other murderers." Barloc looked down at the dataslate in his hands. "Oh and some sexual predators and other offenders in that capacity as well. They will be immediately sent to the Prison of Elders once the shuttles are prepped." Barloc looked back towards the line of prisoners being escorted by a squad of redjacks and two fireteams of Titans. "It's a good thing we got a good number of them so the regions can breathe easy again, but there's still more of them out there."

"Did Adam just not give a damn, or did he go out of his way to find these?" Cayde thought aloud reading over the identity papers of their latest batch of prisoners of sleeper agents.

"He's always wanted vengeance against humans. Me and Ghira tried our best to make him understand that violence was only for defending for those who can't defend themselves. But that's a story for another time." She eyed the prisoners with disgust. "To think he'd go so far as to recruit even death row inmates…"

"Nothing but a bunch of bloodthirsty idiots." Barloc quickly surmised. "Figured freedom fighting could get them out or become an excuse to continue."

"Always thinking the worst of people aren't you Barloc?" Cayde quipped.

"Facts first, negotiations next, and then judgement." Barloc said, as he then stared at Cayde's eyes, as if reading his soul. "If one cannot face their mistakes, and look to fix them in some harmless shape or form, then let the consequences continue to pile without pause. The law will come for them."

Cayde sighs as his body shudders. He decides to change the subject. "How many of them willingly changed over?"

Sienna just held her head and sighs.

"Not many of them, other than the ones that immediately came to me once we made the announcement." She said with a sigh, looking away from the convicts and the guardians. "What was it they said? 'Hell would have to freeze over before I sit with a human.'"

"Bah." Barloc shook his head. "What a waste of resources for a planet like this."

"That is why I refused to use any sort of violence."

Sienna and Cayde turned to look at Ghira, while Barloc merely looked over his shoulder, smirking.

"Good to have you back, Ghira." Was all he said, as he went back to observing the convicts.

"Byf said you had at least another week before waking up from that!" Sienna stated.

"Well, I should thank a friend a little for that. Nurses and doctors didn't catch who did it, but I've got a good feeling who. Now then, what seems to be the problem?" Ghira said sitting down to help with the paperwork.

"Mostly dealing with criminals, and what to do with them from Adam's branch that turned against us." Sienna replied looking at the next one.

However the next one made her gasp.

"NO it can't be!" She stated looking at the identity papers of two individuals that were yet to be sent in.

"What caught your eyes?" Cayde asked.

"These two!" Sienna caused the table to rattle, as she slammed the identity papers on the table in front of Cayde and Barloc.

The papers showed two Faunus teens, Iskandar Darkon and Hephaestion Darkon. The former was 17 and the other 16, with only one of them in Adam's ranks. The 17 old had red spiky hair and horns on his head. Dragon wings came from his back as well, classifying him as a dragon-type faunus. The other was a Griffin faunus with eagle like wings, and silverish short hair. Their looks weren't what caught the attention of the two guardians however, rather the words under their basic descriptions and bios.

The two were captured due to raiding the Village of Gotham. According to the dataslate before them, he was forced to assist in the raid due to having the younger one hostage. When Adam was killed, they wanted to defect. The lead of the Predators didn't take kindly to the idea.

Ghira's eyes widened at what he saw.

"No way. I remember these boys!" He stated.

"And from the looks of it they had no choice in the matter but to stay with Adam's group. What was the saying? 'We must get dirty for the world to stay clean'?" Cayde said casually.

"I know that saying all too well." Ghira muttered, deep in thought.

"We shall see to it that they get a hearing." Barloc stated concisely. "Cayde, I trust you can speak like an adult on this?"

"Motherfu- can you stop treating me like a damn child?!"

Barloc clears his throat. " Remember the reef " He says in a commercial sing-song tone.

"BY THE TRAVELER, I KNOW! You're so annoying when it comes to heart to heart talks!" Cayde retorted.

0000

Iskandar looked at the cell of his as his brother was next door cell.

"This is utter bulls-." Hephaestion said. "If anything we're the victims here!"

Iskandar just sighs.

"Just be patient bro." Iskandar said. "Remember we did do a lot of illegal things. Whether or not we were coerced into it may not be relevant here."

He then heard keys turn and unlock his cell door. A hulk of a titan opened his cell.

"Come with me." He ordered, gesturing out the door.

Moments later, he was at Beacon Academy heading to meet with those who wanted to get answers of the raid he was in not to long ago. When the door opened. He watched Cayde-6 slowly turn his chair around. Barloc rolled his eyes in annoyance at Cayde's antics.

"So your this infamous Iskandar Darkon, no?" Cayde said looking at the clipboard in his hands with Iskandar's identity papers.

"Yes sir." Iskandar replied.

"Please have a seat. Izzy, can I call you Izzy?"

Barloc cleared his throat, casting a look of disapproval at Cayde.

Cayde noticed it after a bit, and chose not to comment. "Anyways. Tell me how come a few of my Guardians found you raiding a village?"

"Well… sir," He started off nervously, carefully considering his words. "My CO of the unit I was with forced my hand. He told me if I didn't do what he said, he'd kill my brother." Iskandar replied.

Cayde hummed in thought, while Barloc stared into Iskandar, unblinking. It only continued making him nervous. "Seems like he was serious when we found ten bodies with your weapon being connected to them."

He then looked at Barloc, who already was turning on the projection.

"Now how about we take a look at that night?" Cayde stated as a projector was turned on and a screen showed Nero's actions.

00000

Gunshots rang in the air over Lux's head. A village being attacked. Something that was sadly becoming a common occurrence from Vale to Mistral. Her pulse rifle held up firing a few bursts into bodies of the Whitefang. Prometheus was using his new sword Shaxx had given him to take on what appears to be the leader of this Sleeper Cell. However, these people weren't the regular asshat grunts they took down many times. These were the "Predators". Adam's special hit squad. The whitefang had them originally as nothing more then basically spys to research and help rescue Faunus and others from the Human trafficking rings.

The predator leader was in the square, holding a pistol to a crying women. Many of his men holding guns to the heads of civilians, human and faunus alike.

"DON'T COME ANY CLOSER! If you do, these scumbags get it!" the leader ordered.

The women started to cry, but stopped as she held her head in pain, the leader hitting her with the back end of his pistol. Lux looked to Prometheus as he held his sword, seeing some of Siennas men in new uniforms to distinguish themselves so they won't be accidentally a casualty of friendly fire, with a few militia men that looked at one another, before Lux waved them to spread out. Through Lux's HUD her motions were silent. So was everyone else. The marksman slowly entered houses, along with a huntsman who hid behind a crate that was close to the leader of the Predators.

When Lux got a better position she then waved several hand signals to the group of defenders. Then they sprang into action. The marksman opened fire first to get rid of the Predators who held the hostages at gunpoint. Lux and the huntsman fired their respective weapons as well into the leader. His aura was shredded before he even had a chance to realize what had happened. Lead and energy rounds were pumped into him as high calibers went through his chest and out his back.

Iskandar was, fortunately, left alive, there not being enough bullets to kill him. He looked on for a moment in shock.

With his 'teammates' down for the count, Iskandar, who was holding a group of children hostage, immediately held his hands up in the air and tossed his weapon in front of him, surrendering immediately. However he gasped as he saw that more "Predators" came in a bullhead behind the small gang of rescuers. A big bulky man with paint on his face of a white hand walked down the ramp with more Whitefang sleeper cells. Holding onto a Faunus with eagle like wings. The young boy was badly beaten and bruised, as he was then tossed in front of the people Lux and Prometheus were helping.

"So your the infamous Lux Sphyid, and Prometheus-23. How underwhelming."

He saw the fear that the Dragon Faunus held in his eyes, as the large bulky figure took out a large staff with what looked like a dust generator on the end of it. The Man then pressed a button and firey red energy blades came out of the generator attached to his staff. And he smiled darkly.

Lux Sphyid looked to Prometheus, who shrugged in response.

"Soon the White Fang will rise again. And we shall rid us of the Human race. FOREV-" was all the man said, before Lux atomized him with a nova bolt.

Unimpressed, she turned to the other predators. Then another man who almost looked like the other bulky man came down from the ramp as well.

"Sheesh, you'd think he'd run out someday... you the leader of the Predators?" Lux stated annoyed that she killed the wrong leader. Again.

"I am Atriox, leader of the Predators yes." The tall brute replied coldly to Lux.

"Well… I'll say this much. You're not intimidating at all." Lux stated.

This caused a scowl to form on his brow.

"I'll make you eat those words you walking blue waffle slut!" Atriox growled out.

"One on one?" She responded rather callously with a frown, as she ignored the man's response.

"Uhh, sir... I think we should retreat." Said one grunt.

"I don't care how much you lot are scared of her. We are going to kill her little friends and use her body as a se-gah!" Atriox stated as felt a knife go through his gut.

"Careful Atriox. Your Adam is showing." Lux stated.

The bayonet of Plan C was twisted in his gut, before she pulled out and stabbed him several more times before smacking his face in with the butt stock of her weapon. He fell to the ground several feet away. Coughing up blood as the Leader felt the pain.

"Well...you're not wrong...but… nothing like a good stabbing...to get the blood flowing…" he kept coughing up blood.

He got up putting pressure on his wounds. Lux holding what looks like a wallet looked at the ID.

"You know something Atriox. I hate lying. I especially hate liars who call me a blue waffle. Now then, is Atriox your real name? Or just an alias for those who want to protect the real one? Because honestly, I bet he's scared of the inevitable." Lux spoke.

She then tossed the ID of the man's wallet showing that his name wasn't actually Atriox. Just some random person made to look like him.

"He's not one to be very boastful of his actions. He is, however, an incredibly annoying tactical genius. So then. You gonna tell me where he is? Or surrender?" Lux said.

She then pointed the barrel of her weapon into his face.

"You got 5 seconds to say."

"LONG LIVE AD-GAHHHH" the fake Atriox screamed as he too was vaporized.

Lux then turned to the now scared batch of Predators. She then casually pointed the weapon at the newcomers. Their leader was nowhere to be seen, the blood being the only evidence he was alive.

"Anyone else?" Lux stated.

The remaining White Fang members couldn't surrender any faster, as they threw their weapons aside and held their hands in the air.

00000

"I take it that your leader would have you and this batch of prisoners hunted down and killed?"

"Yes he would. In fact, he probably even gave the order already."

Cayde then takes a look at Sienna, Ghira, and Barloc before looking back at Iskandar. Sienna looked on in remorse at Iskandar, as well as Ghira. Barloc simply folded his arms, as if to say 'Go on'.

"I just have one question, would you like a chance to right the wrongs you have committed?" Cayde asked.

The light in Iskandar's eyes beamed in happiness.

"YES PLEASE!"

Cayde then looked to the other three again and nodded.

"Ok then."

00000

_Sometime later..._

00000

Cayde wipes the imagery sweat from his mechanical brow. Having just released the Darkon brothers into the care of one of their relatives, he decided to scour around the live footage of fireteams around Remnant, looking for action to watch. Barloc walked over to his side, miffed with a stack of papers in his hand.

"Cayde; what are you doing?"

Cayde looked to him as if it was obvious. "Uh, something other than mountains of paperwork? Come on, you have to do something to break the monotony!"

"Says the one who never does any work…" Barloc muttered under his breath, as he goes back to his stack of files and prisoner logs. Or at least, he would've weren't for the door opening.

The two looked to see a Ruby Rose, who looked like she just got out of a candy store.

"Heya Kiddo!" Cayde happily replied, turning away from the footage of live fireteams.

"Good evening Miss Rose." Barloc says as he bows out of courtesy. "Might I ask what the occasion is? You came in without an appointment."

"Oh come on Barloc, can't friends just come by for a friendly visit?"

"We've got a lot of officials and representatives to meet, Cayde." He stated, giving a stern look to Cayde. "Our professionalism right now is of utmost importance."

"Regardless," Barloc said, as he put the stack of papers elsewhere. "You have more importance than anyone else on Remnant at the moment. So we'll be glad to hear you out."

She looked at them bashfully for a moment, before speaking. "Can I have this sword?" She said while hitting them with the puppy dog eyes, pulling out her scroll to show the sword. "It looks really cool, and I wanna play with it."

Cayde's cuteness sensors were already beginning to overload. Barloc, however, wasn't even fazed.

So Barloc, being the professional he is, simply, yet eloquently stated. "No."

"Oh what- come on dude!" Cayde instantly got up, putting his hand on Barloc's back as he points at Ruby, who added tears to her eyes for special effect. "Look at that face!"

"As tempting as it may be, she has strong guardian connections that already make her famous." Barloc pointed out, showing no signs of falling to the cuteness. "If she gets to have our weapons before anyone else to keep, it'd result in a public outcry and possibly lead to civil unrest amongst the higher officials."

"However, I have noticed a loophole that you could abuse, Ruby Rose." Barloc said, putting back on 'the professional' smile. "Should you receive the weapon directly from the family of the smiths, one of which isn't classified as a guardian, you are allowed to have it. This hasn't been covered yet, as naturally, no manufacturing companies are willing to personally come out to pass freebies, but I'm sure you're already acquainted with one of them."

Ruby practically beamed in delight, as she rushed forth to wrap both Cayde and Barloc in a bear hug. Cayde's optics lit up in surprise, but otherwise smiled as best as an exo could, while Barloc kept his look, before zooming out the door.

The two shared a look as a moment of silence befell them, before Barloc grinned.

"Go on." Barloc goaded Cayde. "Say it."

Cayde sighs, grumbling a bit before speaking. "You can't have 'warlock' without the 'loc' locked in."

Barloc's grin widened as the two returned to what they're doing. Barloc was a little slow on his end, as he decided to gush about how cute Ruby was while making sure Cayde wasn't listening in on him.

00000

Lux sat next to Prometheus and the huntsman from the HUD cam footage from Cayde's talk with Iskandar. All three drinking whatever alcohol they thought was best at the time. She then looked at the huntsman.

"You know you can come with us and help train people in the task force. They could probably use your hand to hand skills." Lux offers.

The huntsman shook his head.

"Last time I did that, one of my best students turned into a monster." The huntsman said, taking a shot. "Besides my life is on its last legs. I won't be long with the taskforce ether. I'm sure one of my students currently helping train Sienna's faction. Ask them to help out. I'm done with hero work."

Prometheus nodded.

"We know you don't want to continue with us and respect your decision. But you're always welcomed back any time sir-" He paused, as if realizing something. "Actually, I never caught your name."

"No need. What I do is a thankless job anyways." The huntsman replied taking another shot.

He then poured whatever was left in the whiskey bottle he was drinking into what looked like a belt of flasks and flask containers. He then strapped them to his body before putting some Lien on the bar table.

"Have a nice rest of your day guys." The huntsman said before walking away into the forests.

Lux sighs.

"Well, we're down a man now." Lux stated.

"I'm sure he has his reasons for avoiding towns." Prometheus replies. "Besides, we have his scroll number in case we really need some of his expertise."

"True. But hey, at least we stopped that whitefang raid."

"True."

Prometheus then took a shot from his glass before placing it back down. However he then heard a commotion outside the bar.

"What the hell?" He said aloud.

Lux followed suit and when they exited the bar, they found they needed to get on top of a building to see the commotion.

Dozens of families had gathered around the guardian outpost in Vale, all crying for their loved ones to come back. The titans stationed at the outpost doors were trying to keep the peace without causing violence, waiting for Cayde and Barloc to get to the scene.

Lux and Prometheus cringed a bit in sympathy, both for the two and the civilians. They went back inside, however, knowing they'd handle it, and help quell the problems with the cultural exchange.

0000

**OMAKE**

Three black shuttles fell out of warp speed by the boundary of the reef, shaking as they reentered realspace. As soon as they approached, they were hailed and met by six Awoken interceptors, which flew in besides the shuttles and escorted them towards their destination; The barren rock of the Reef, the Prison of Elders.

As the landing ramps dropped when the shuttles landed, the personnel inside began to disembark. From each shuttle emerged a group of White Fang convicts, deemed too dangerous to keep around. Flanking them were several Titans of the First Pillar, charged with escorting them to the prison, without incident. Meeting the group at the gates was a squad Awoken prison guards, wearing full battle armor and armed with shotguns and rifles.

"They're all yours." One of the Titans said to one when they got close.

"Excellent," the guard replied as he took the manifest the Titan handed to him. Signing the bottom of the data slate and double checking the information, the guard handed it back to the Titan. The Titan gave a nod walked back to the shuttles, the rest of his team following suit.

The awoken guard grabbed the nearest White Fang prisoner to him, a bear faunus with visible ears. "You understand what I'm saying?" The faunus nodded quickly as the guard pointed at one of the others prison guards. "You follow that guard got it?" The guard shoved the faunus and the line of prisoners shuffled forward through the gates.

The prisoners found themselves lined up inside of Intake, the rest of the guards departing, leaving just them and the one guard from earlier. There was a hiss as the door in front of the room opened, as Variks entered. A few of the faunus couldn't help but gawk at their first sight of an actual alien. Variks leaned on his staff as he eyed the group of convicts before him with some sense of curiosity.

"This is Argus, he's captain of the guard," Variks spoke, gesturing at the awoken guard. "I am Variks, the warden. You are convicted felons, that's why they brought you to me." Variks scanned the group, taking note of any reactions he. "Rule number one." Variks declared as he raised a finger. "No blasphemy. I'll not have the Traveler's name taken in vain. The rest of the rules, you'll figure out as you go along. Any questions?"

"When do we eat?" One of the faunus in the line quipped, a wolf faunus who had been sporting a visible scowl the entire time. Variks looked at Argus who then approached the faunus, getting right up in his face.

"You eat when we say you eat, you shit when we say you shit and you piss when we say you piss. You got it maggot!?" Just to drive the point home, Argus jammed the butt of his shotgun into the faunus's stomach, causing him to keel over, coughing in pain. Variks looked back towards the other prisoners as the faunus got back to his feet.

"I believe in two things. Discipline and judgement. Here you'll receive both. And maybe you'll survive if you do." Variks grinned slightly under his mask as noticable signs of panic spread amongst the prisoners. "Put your faith in the Light. Your ass belongs to me. Welcome to the Prison of Elders." Variks turned to leave as Argus began ushering the prisoners out.

_"I hope they'll put up a good effort." _Variks mused to himself.

00000

**Diluation:We apologize for the late upload. We've been doing a lot of discussion as to how we should do the raid section of RoI, as well as considering some changes/additions to SIVA in general.**

**Iron lord gore: ****Ok it makes sense but let me say or rather ask this because I didn't see the last update will you do something to honor ptabs in anyway he deserves that much at least... outside of the moment of silence…**

**Diluation: I myself have no plans to honor Ptabs at the moment, beyond continuing the story until Destiny 3 is over with. However, I do have a little fun thing planned for us all. I'm not going to describe it, as I want it to be a surprise, but I'll post it once this crossover section reaches 150 stories.**

**Why specifically when this milestone is reached? Well, I'd ask you to hold my beer, but it's not time to yet…**

**GXY-2013:I'm hoping that you know what happen to Winter and I hope she will show up soon.**

**Diluation:She's to show up again soon, no doubt about it. There are a lot of things to do and consider for us in regards to the story as a whole.**

**Guest:I honestly really want to see rwby go to Earth.**

**Diluation:That actually reminds me. I need to correct myself on what I said to Iron lord gore:Team RWBY isn't heading to Earth now.**

**With that all said and done, we hope to see you next chapter.**

**~ In memory of Ptabs0101 ~**


	10. Remnant Brought Alight

Ruby busted through the door to the combat arena, unintentionally interrupting a spar between Daisy and Lord Shaxx, as she charged Daisy down. She yelped, cursing a bit before getting knocked unconscious by the impact.

"Huh never thought I'd see that." Lord Shaxx stated.

"Oops." Ruby started realizing what she did.

She then got up and tries to get Daisy to wake up. Lord Shaxx then walks up to her.

" , shouldn't you be at the weapons expo?" Shaxx asked.

"That's… kind of why I need Daisy." Ruby replied while nervously chuckling.

Lord Shaxx nodded, and fired a bullet right next to Daisy's ear, instantly getting her into a combat position, her eyes wildly scanning the area around her as she held her pistol and dagger. This caused Ruby to instinctively back up, and Lord Shaxx to let out a hearty laugh.

"It appears as if Ms. Rose has need of you." Lord Shaxx stated as he started walking away. "And if I know her mother, it's probably for something crazy."

Daisy sighs and gets up putting her dagger and pistol away. She then looks at Ruby.

"Something you need Ruby?" Daisy asked in curiosity.

"Well kind of. You see, there's this sword you guys are showing off, and I kinda wanna have it…" The red-caped girl replied, twirling her fingers a bit.

"And what makes you think that I'd simply give you one of my Grandfathers wares?" Daisy replied.

"I've got the glimmer. As well as a few other materials that my mom left me in my locker before she left to Earth."

Daisy looked at her for a moment, as if realizing something. She then shakes her head. "Just a scary coincidence… how much is the Vendor selling it for?"

"50000 glimmer, a hundred Legendary tokens, and one exotic Shard."

"How much of that _DO _you have?"

"100,000,000 glimmer, 500 Legendary Tokens, and about 5 Exotic shards." Ruby replied sheepishly.

Daisy pauses for a long moment, her mind racing to understand exactly how Summer managed to get that much… and then facepalmed once the obvious became even more obvious, sighing.

"I'll see what I can do. Maybe throw something else in with it."

Daisy started looking at her scroll to see who the Vendor for her family's wares were, unable to find them. She makes a mental note to talk to the two, before then following Ruby to the weapons expo that was surprisingly still going. Ruby gave Daisy the glimmer and materials. However when Daisy went up to the Vendor she couldn't believe her eyes. The Warlock manning the stand was someone she knew as from when she was very little.

"Uncle Edmund?" Daisy asked

The Warlock rose an eyebrow in surprise.

"Daisy?" The Warlock replied.

They both took off their helmets and where surprised to see each other. The man had black hair, brown eyes, (and to Ruby), cute freckles that came from his nose to both sides of his cheeks. He looked about in his very late teens early twenties

"My gush lassy, It's been too long, last I saw ya you were a wee fellow!" The Vendor now named Edmund stated.

"You can drop the fake Scottish accent uncle Edmund." Daisy smiled in reply crossing her arms

"Oh come on, must you ruin the fun?" Edmund now spoke with a British accent.

"Oh please you've only been doing that with children to get them to laugh as a joke." Daisy said.

"Well I was pretty good at it." Edmund said as he then looked at Ruby. "So you returned and I see where this is going."

Ruby smiled with glee as she handed the required materials to Daisy who then exchanged them for the sword. Daisy then held the sword with the blade pointing down. Handing Ruby the handle. Stars in her eyes she grabbed it and held it up with such strength, that Edmund couldn't help but look on with concern, before turning his gaze to Daisy.

"She's uhhh… different." Daisy replied with a nervous replied rubbing the back of her head.

"Ohh how am I going to test you out!" Ruby stated with glee.

"I see that." Edmund said.

"Well, you just make sure nothing explodes while using that, Ruby." Daisy idly warned Ruby in an almost joking manner, before looking to the Remnant Vanguard Headquarters. "I have an appointment to make."

00000

Barloc and Cayde looked out at the crowd before them, unsure as how to deal with the situation. The two had themselves hidden behind a tinted, plexiglass window, designed to ensure any would be assassins or spies couldn't see, much less attack. They looked to each other, as if expecting the other to deal with it.

"Well Omnipotent One?"

"What?"

"Isn't this the part where you show the crowd the truth, and they just happily accept the speech and move on?"

Barloc gave Cayde an irritated look, putting a hand on his hip. "Don't give me that Traveler-spouting nonsense! Since when has this ever been a problem for us dark age guardians?!"

"Well I don't know either, and nobody in the city complained about having a lack of ghosts!" Cayde shot back. "And you know how I am with this speech stuff, that's Zavala's thing! And he's not here right now!"

"Well you're the Hunter Vanguard!" Barloc fired back. "And I may have gotten some notoriety, but you're still considered the lead here! I can't just go out there and try to get them to understand, I lack the leverage!"

"Well somebody has to do something!"

"Wise words from the man that does nothing but shoot guns!"

"Yeah, well-" Cayde fumbles with the words for a moment "I don't see you fighting the baddies!"

"Why you-"

Barloc and Cayde stop arguing upon realizing the protesting crowd had become silent, someone speaking over them. The two looked to see Daisy, giving the crowd a speech, the crowd listening with their full attention. Slowly, but surely, Barloc and Cayde saw the crowd look downtrodden by the news, but otherwise accepting of it, and slowly began to break apart.

"Well color me impressed; that's-"

0000

Daisy looks on to the crowd. She was hoping to not have to get through a long line but after hearing what the people were demanding. She felt that she had to do something. Standing at the top of the steps. A Titan was kind enough to hand her a bull horn sense her helmet speakers won't be loud enough nor would shouting make anything better.

"Please quiet down and listen." She said into the microphone of the bullhorn.

The crowd of Faunus and humans finally quieted down from there sobbing and shouting. All eyes on her. In all honesty she hated talking to crowds. Or anything that had to do with a large group of people she didn't know. But she pressed on.

"I know you all have lost loved ones. Especially with what happened during the Vex invasion. But let me tell you. Ghosts don't just revive people out of pity. They choose who they choose." Daisy spoke.

Though that didn't sit well with some of the people.

"What gives you the right to say so!?" Said a random human.

"Because that's their nature. They choose whom they deem worthy. You can't force a Ghost who has free will to bring back a loved one. Not only that but said loved one won't even have memories of their past lives." Daisy replied

This proved to make the people even downtrodden. But understood what she was saying.

0000

"Mara Sov?" Barloc let out, for once unintentionally interrupting Cayde. "Since when did she decide to change her skin color? Why are the Awoken meddling in Tower territory?"

Cayde's eyes widened in response to it, and puts a hand on Barloc's shoulder, having him lean in.

"Hey, do me a favor real quick?" Cayde said, an unusual amount of seriousness to his tone. "Try to remember her name, of which is Daisy? That'd piss off the actual Mara Sov, since, y'know, it's probably just a fan of hers, or a distant relative."

Barloc scrutinized Daisy. "But she has the Awoken eyes, and physical looks… though then again, body modifications wouldn't be out of the question with guardian technology, since those are very much possible." With grump of annoyance, Barloc looked to Cayde. "Fine. I'll try to for the remainder of her visit."

And with that, the two decided to go downstairs to meet her.

The Vanguard lobby wasn't much, since the building only consisted of a hangar that barely fit Cayde and all his junk, a waiting room above, and of course the office. It still stood out amongst the rest of the place however, a few couches put up against the wall with a decent amount of lighting to the place, lamps at the corners of the room with a fan swinging above. A young, male receptionist warlock stood behind a desk, having looked away from his schedules to watch his bosses, as the two titans came in, grumbling as they walked by them, their armors having an assortment of stains, and in a few areas, cracks on the armor even.

"Yowch." Cayde couldn't help but let out, looking over his shoulder as they watched them leave.

"Eyes up." Barloc stated sharply, the message coming clearly to Cayde as they focused their attention on the door, waiting for Daisy to come through.

True enough, Daisy did enter, but not without a look of annoyance herself. She stared at the two, as if waiting for a response.

"We thank you for the assistance in the matter, but by all means that was Vanguard business." Barloc stated, continuing before Daisy could respond with a snarky remark. "This officially said, that was an issue which has never been on the record of problems before. So we're willing to overlook it, compensate for the inconvenience even should you wish Ms Daisy."

Daisy then raised an eyebrow. "Vanguard business…?" She then looked to Cayde.

Cayde then dramatically presented Barloc. "Yep! He's my secretary, my eBay Ikora, and devourer of work-!"

"I believe I am leading the conversation, Cayde." Barloc almost hissed at exo for presenting him in such a manner. He then clears his throat, giving Daisy a professional smile. "Allow me to make a proper introduction:I am Barloc." He then gives a curtsy bow.

The three shared an uncomfortable silence between them, the receptionist looking on curiously before Barloc motions for him to get back to work.

"That's it?" She asked, having expected a more… lengthy greeting.

"He's the no-funlock." Cayde responded, causing Barloc to grit his teeth in response. "Probably spammed nova bombs back in his day, anyways what brings you here?"

_She was then supposed to introduce herself… _Barloc thought to himself.

"Uh huh…" She looked at Barloc for a moment, before disregarding him for Cayde. "I was just wondering why my family's Vendor Uncle Edmund isn't officially part of the weapons expo."

"The Speaker hadn't yet passed along his request along to have his weapons be put on display, making me unable to reach for his forms." Barloc stated as a matter of fact, drawing the attention back to him as he straightened up. "Rest assured, I've been keeping an eye out for them in Cayde's absence, or rather absences. The only reason they're able to attend even then, is that the wares fill all the legal requirements needed, so we've turned a blind eye to it. I've also looked into the company history, and while I don't follow it, I do understand why there are complications here, due to the political system put alongside conflicting ideologies."

"In other words, Speaker is speaking again, so we're going out of our way." Cayde gave her the shortened version of Barloc's words.

"That's an uninformative, finger pointing statement, but yes, yes it is." Barloc said in agreement, before looking to Cayde. "Cayde, might I suggest that you be more in depth next time?"

"Oh no, she knows what I mean. We're buds after all." He waved off Barloc's reply.

"I see… and you've yet to rectify this anomaly in our contacts?" Barloc stated with a friendly, yet had a 'I'm about to strangle you' edge to his tone.

"Hey, just a simple mistake, no worries." Daisy said to him, breaking up the tension between the two as she exchanged numbers with Barloc. "I know my family has… history with this kind of crap from the Speaker."

"As have many, I'm quite aware of." Barloc nodded with affirmation. "Rest assured, were Cayde or I him, we would've gotten straight to it as soon as the issue was brought up. Unfortunately, we're not."

"Regardless, it was nice exchanging pleasantries Miss Daisy. If you have no other issues to be brought up to us, then you may leave now." Barloc said with a shooing motion.

"Aww, can't I just talk with her?" Cayde asked Barloc, while Daisy just casted Barloc a look of slight annoyance before leaving.

"Tell it to the paperwork Cayde." Barloc said in response, dragging along the exo as he did so. "We'll see if it'll give us a yes or no to that."

"Ooooooohhh f### me!" Cayde groaned in response, Barloc's censor module activating at Cayde's attempt to curse, static coming in the word's place.

"The government officials aren't going to do that, Cayde."

00000

The students had waited on with baited breath for Shaxx's class to start. A few were noticeably absent, no doubt immensely discouraged by the sudden spike in difficulty, for both school and the challenges after them. Others had remained, whether it was just trying to ensure their own survival for the future, trying to best the titan of titans, or to truly stay on path to their goals of being a hunter or huntress, was beyond anyone in the room. One thing was for certain, however.

The students were prepared for another day in hell.

Though some more than less, as Neptune stood stock still in his seat, his eyes wide with fear for what was to come. He knew that Shaxx was to round on him soon. And his teammates noticed this.

"Hey, you cool man?" Scarlet asked, his head turned to face him. "I get he's imposing and all, but you know why we're here."

"Yeah!" Sun said, doing some air jabs as a gesture. "We didn't get the chance to fight him last class since we had to do a mission down in Vacuo at the time, but he's never dealt with the likes of us!"

"Guys…" He sighed. He knew his teammates were just trying to hype him up for the battle ahead of them. "Just, look around us. Not even they're wanting to join up on this. And didn't you hear about Yang and Nora?"

"Its intimidating." Sage replied, ignoring the glaring from the two. "And there's no doubt about the rumors that even guardians fear him. But our abilities are versatile in use, not to mention we get a slight advantage from having heard about how he fights." He pointed out

"An excellent point there Sage Ayana."

The team, as well as everyone in the room jumped upon hearing Shaxx's voice. Shaxx had himself standing center of the combat arena. Almost immediately, the students began to murmur amongst themselves, no doubt asking how Shaxx even got there in the first place.

"However, do not let the notion cause recklessness. If you have time to understand the enemy's abilities, so does he." Shaxx finished addressing Sage, before turning his focus back to the crowd. "Regardless, I have been talking more with Ms. Goodwich in regards to some videos you've all been wanting to watch, mainly that of my Crucible. While I cannot say they're what I'd prefer to show you, I have instructed some of my best apprentices to show you how fireteams fight together."

The screen above the combat arena then lit up, showing paused video footage of Twilight Gap from two different angles that split the screen.

"On the left you have Fireteam Redeem and Fireteam Legend. Two of the most prevalent strike teams we have at the Tower, and whom have decided to assist in showing you how guardians fight. Zavala is the one you can thank for getting turning their guns away from there for the time being."

The video unpaused for a moment, and the guardians on the left showed their appreciation for the students having come today, waving or saluting at them, one of them doing some dancing.

"On the right you have Fireteam Baker and Fireteam Math."

Ruby, along with a few other students, couldn't help but giggle at the names.

"These were my apprentices, and are now some of the top players in the Crucible beside Fireteam Nero."

Shaxx chuckled at their sudden silence, accompanied with widened eyes. As he unpaused the video, they were all doing wildly different things, ranging from sprinkling salt, to jumping up in the air and kicking to the sides. One of them even did a twirling handstand, almost as if they knew they would laugh about their names.

"These four fireteams will show you how the average Control match goes under team banners Alpha and Bravo… although without many of the techniques I prefer to use in situations like these." Shaxx stated with a noticeable amount of remorse at the end. "Take note of how they fight nonetheless in our most sacred battlegrounds, Twilight Gap."

As soon as the video continued, the guardians were already off, the left side of the screen showing the Alpha team side, with the right showing Bravo. Bravo team went and captured the zone closest to them, with Alpha skipping ahead to capture the middle zone immediately as Bravo team only sent a couple guardians to the middle zone, having the rest capture the zone closest to them as quick as possible. The video footage showed that despite being closest to Alpha's starting point, nobody happened to be on the alpha zone.

One of the guardians on the assault noticed this, and broke off to sneak over to the zone while no one was looking. He got onto the zone, and skillfully held off a couple guardians with a No Land Beyond sniper rifle, dispatching them instantly with two well-placed headshots and capping the zone. The rest of the Alpha team attempted to gun him down, but his skill with a couple snipers was unparalleled, even sniping a hunter that was up close, cloaked, and about to shotgun him.

And then an Alpha team guardian spawned next to him, who then got shotgunned before they could even move.

Shaxx's smile threatened to split his face, the guardian reloading his No Land Beyond as he received a 7th column within the first few moments of the match, the students around him in complete awe of the skill displayed before them. He watched as the rest of the match went on, supers and heavy being thrown around occasionally, Alpha team struggling to bring itself back from the dirt, only to end up with only 2/3rds the score Bravo team gotten. An almost saddening defeat, if it weren't for the fact he didn't call it off in hopes they could come back from it.

Shaxx turned to look at his students, who were still slack-jawed at the sheer battle before them. Even if it wasn't as brutal as most matches they heard would be, the fast-paced action before them left them reeling, even for somebody like Ren, who had his mouth slightly ajar. "Now, what were the three key factors that decided that battle?"

All of the students raised their hands.

"Apart from the obvious that we all know."

And just like that, almost all of the hands fell, the ones left up being Weiss, Blake, and Ruby. Shaxx pointed to Blake first.

"They knew the enemy better than they knew them." Blake stated. "As you've stated before, the enemy had time to learn them, and they didn't have much time to learn about the enemy."

"Good to know you've been listening in, Blake. As I've stated before, if you have time to know your enemy, you must learn as much as you can, and being more well known makes it all the more harder to hide your weaknesses." Shaxx then turned to Weiss. "Yes Miss Schnee?"

"Playing around their strategy. They kept them stuck in the middle without much room to go, leaving them almost always in a 3v3 to 3v1 situation." Weiss stated with a smile, certain she was right. "It certainly didn't seem to help them much when the special ammo crates kept spawning near the vantage points. It gave them far too much control over the battlefield."

"That was their fatal flaw yes. But not quite what decided the battle." He then turned to Ruby. "And you, Miss Rose. What's your input on the matter?"

"An unusual choice of weapons on Baken's end. He had no mid-range weapons, and relied solely on long-range and short-range weapons." Ruby pointed out. "If the enemy tried to approach him a decent distance away, they would've been able to stop him. But they're too used to the ranges his weapons specialized in. It certainly didn't help much when almost the whole team of Bravo had the same equipment."

"That, is what even most guardians fail to realize." Shaxx chuckled, as Ruby smiled in response. "Almost every guardian is either up-close and personal, or far-ranged. They do not even begin to consider being able to be picked off where auto rifles reigned."

"With all that said and done, though, it is time to continue onto the next part of class." He looked to team SSSN, who now realized they were completely unprepared for what was ahead.

"I believe you four have volunteered already?"

00000

Raven looked on in shock. Her men were holding their hands up. And three individuals stood before them. Vernal took Ravens side but both wanted to vomit at the site before them. Many men and women laid dead in gut-wrenching ways, some looking as if they were played with before they died. One who looked liked a Hunter;a female, a male Hunter, and two were warlocks, one male and the leader a woman.

"So this was the infamous Branwen Tribe? How underwhelming." the lead female Hunter said.

Raven gritted her teeth, seeing her entire bandit tribe held hostage before her.

"What the hell do you want?" Raven growled.

Without a word, the hunter pulled out a glass and purple crystal like handgun from a thigh holster and shot a bandit in the face. She didn't stop there. She then proceeded to stomp on the body brutally, decimating it to the point where it resembled nothing more than a pile of blood and guts. Raven's hand gripped her sword and Vernal leveled her guns at the group in front of them, both glaring at the hunter. The scene made the rest of the captured members of the tribe to grow restless in fear.

"You. Raven. No amount of Darkness can make you hide behind your bodyguard." the lead Hunter said.

This caused Raven to visible get scared in her body language.

"What makes you think i'm going to follow you!?" Raven shouted.

The lead Hunter smirked and removed her helmet, a flowing head of black hair shaking loose, uncovering a pair of flame colored eyes. Raven snapped her fingers and the warlock and hunters killed half of the hostages, making sure to take their sweet time with it. Their dying shrieks could be heard for miles around. Vernal roared and tried to charge at Cinder, but was stopped by a red blade getting in the way.

"Raven! Why-" Raven glared at Vernal who took the hint and stepped back.

"Listen to your mommy, girl." Cinder chuckled, "She knows when she's been outmatched." Cinder sauntered over to the two bandits twirling her handgun about. "So what will it be Raven? You can either join us or the rest of them." Cinder gestured at the corpses on the ground. Raven looked around her at the mess carnage before finally coming to her choice. She nodded to Vernal before both of them sheathed their weapons.

The dark hunters and warlock smiled under their helmets.

"Thank you for your cooperation." Cinder said.

She then walked up to Raven. As if inspecting her. Body and soul. Cinder smiled as she looked to her group.

"How disappointing. A huntress turned her back to become a killer and a thief of the innocent." Cinder taunted. "Or was there only ever a murderer underneath that facade?"

"Mighty rich coming from you." Raven replied.

A sudden gunshot interrupted the moment and a head exploded near the male Hunter. His foot having been on one bandits face.

"Sorry foot slipped." The hunter gave a shrug.

Cinder just shook her head.

"My my, what temper you have. Maybe thats why your lover liked you. But such a shame you abandon him and that daughter of yours. Spending most of your time raising your bodyguard, you know nothing of your real little girl."

"Get to your point Cinder." Raven responded through gritted teeth.

Cinder gave a wicked smile.

"Oh Raven, you always say you care about your "family," and since you've been so cooperative, I'll make sure nothing bothers them ever again." Cinder said as she then snapped her fingers.

Merlot, Mercury, and Emerald then fired their weapons at the remaining tribe members. Bullets tore into body after body. Blood and guts splattered everywhere, painting the grass and trees red.

"You've always said the strong live and the weak die. How does that seem to you now?" Cinder asked mockingly. Raven just stared at the bullet riddled corpses of her men.

"...How did you find us?" Raven asked.

"Simple… a little birdy told the cowardly lion." Cinder replied. "Now come on, we don't want to keep the party waiting.

Raven narrowed her eyes as she and Vernal where led away.

"_Qrow, the next time we meet, I'll kill you where you stand." _

00000

Lord Saladin stood in his forges of the Iron temple. Using his Hammer of Sol. He repeatedly struck a blade causing the metal to heat and turn a brighter color of orange as he then used a rod to detail the sides of what he was crafting. He then lifted it up and put in water to cool down the molten metal. He then looked to his left and his old ears didn't fail him. He heard the familiar roar of a jumpship. He smiled as he looked upon the finished blade.

"The time is soon to come." Saladin said to himself, as he watched Summer her team enter the room.

**A/N:**

**Animeak116: What's up everybody this is the Anime Guy here. And I hope you all enjoyed this new chapter. Anyways onto the reviews!**

**Guest:Who helped Ghira?!**

**Diluation:*looks to Animeak***

**Animeak:****¯\\_(****ツ****)_/¯ hell if I know. I may need to ask around **

**Diluation:Ok.**

**Guest 2:And why are you not having them head to Earth?**

**Fireteam:Just wait.**

**Animeak116: we know you guys want them to head to Earth. It's just not the right time yet. Sorry.**

**Guest named Review:****Out of curiosity? How do you guys feel about the future of destiny now? Given their recent announcements.**

**Fireteam:We're all extremely hyped for the future of Destiny.**

**Diluation:RWBY, not so much tbh… but we'll try with what we got.**

**Animeak116: I have to agree with Diluation. Especially since I've been following the Vic situation as well as Qrow's new Voice actor… it's been especially hard on me giving what happened. I've been struggling with any attention with RWBY content sense well nearly all my stories are RWBY crossovers as sad as it is. RT is just one big mess. **

**Doomforzombies16:Guardiancon?**

**Animeak116: Sadly I've been trying to find a new job, as well as help my family with unpacking after moving to Arizona. Finally out of California. (My family jokingly call it Comifornia). Sorry Diluation. But I know your pain in that dreaded state.**

**Diluation:Well I planned on saying it myself here, but I'd suppose it'd be better just to talk about it instead. California(not a lot of jobs here, as well as a lotta taxes), and am also 17. College, and family lacks the funds to go anywhere atm without having a permanent stay, and can't leave my eldest brother behind with nowhere to stay. **

**You'd probably expect this to be the part where we say the dreaded word '', but we don't plan on opening one up until at least this story is finished. We of FireteamNero do not wish to disrespect Ptabs0101 and his family in any manner whatsoever. Afterwards, or if there's high demand for us to head to guardiancon, we'll open one up, and see where it goes from there.**

**Guest 3:****WHERE IS BAKENGANGSTA?! THE GOD OF CRUCIBLE!**

**Diluation: :3**

**Guest 4:****To Diluation all destiny rwby crossovers consist of dimensional rift group of Guardians shenanigans happens etc the reason why I'm asking is that having team rwby go will open up possibilities that I haven't seen been explored.**

**Diluation:Errr… I don't follow? Do you know something, or are you Osiris? Wait do you-**

**Oh. OH! Now I see. Scared me there for a bit.**

**Yes, it does appear to be something that hasn't been done before. Unfortunately, we will not be disclosing when it'll happen. Rest assured though, they are heading there. Just not now.**

**Rebiele:****I'm interested in the shadowkeep expansion if you guys are planning one. Hasn't come out yet, but I'm saying after a few months or 6 you guys can make it a stand-alone story like how it is a stand alone expansion. I know it's too early to tell. **

**Aside from that, you guys are doing an amazing job with this story, I'm glad you guys adopted it.**

**Animeak:Awww, thank you! We appreciate it!**

**Diluation:Thanks, it's really relieving to hear that... Tbh, I kept feeling like we aren't stacking up to Ptabs, considering the rating difference between his OG Iron Rose story and our blessed continuation of it. Especially troubling for me since I wish to be a fiction writer. **

**Shadowkeep is planned, but for later.**

**Guest: please write a chapter of Oblick going to Earth**

**Animeak116: Not yet. We still have to do the SIVA Crisis arc. Can't have too much heat in the landing zone.**

**But I believe that's it. Thanks guys for reading. Well see you Star side brother and sister Guardians. Gods Speed. **


	11. Aksidents Happen

**Ok new Chapter time, yay! *Streamers and noisemaker sounds* So a few things. First we're trying to make sure our uploads are more consistent in terms of quality and content. Second, thank you all for still sticking around and supporting us and we'll make sure we carry this series to its end.**

**Aquilos:Just for the record, we're maybe like a couple hundred chapters out from the end. I did the math!**

**Diluation:As somebody from Datto's math class, I can confirm that his math is right.**

**Aquilos:Anyone wanna see my spreadsheets?**

**Ok, that's enough of that. Anyway we continue with the adventures of Summer and her League of Best Friends.**

00000

Frederick steered his ship around to the courtyard before dropping the ramp. Tai and Qrow jumped down, followed by Summer and Frederick. Walking back into the Iron Temple. Lord Saladin and Tyra Karn where talking to each other while they reviewed the data the Ghosts recovered from the four warriors operation from Mars.

The bad news was that only 42% of the files were salvageable. The rest were corrupted beyond repair. The good news was that the Devil Splicers rigged a makeshift sensor grid using an old oil tanker as an engine. Removing the energy core and reversing the energy flow would temporarily disable the network allowing them to enter and destroy the Replication Chamber. As an added bonus, the Ghosts discovered that the partially altered Devil Splicers must expose themselves to SIVA every so often, otherwise their bodies would painfully revert back to their original forms. Fully transformed Splicers on the other hand, had no such defect.

Frederick felt his phone vibrate. Taking it out and sliding his thumb on the screen changed to that of a Awoken woman in the background in a wedding dress with him in a suit. He smiled before pressing the message Icon and was surprised by it.

"Fred you coming?" Summer asked.

"Yeah." Frederick replied as he put the device away and continued on with them.

Lord Saladin gave a slight smile as the group returned. They reminded him of his fellow Ironlords, the thought filling him with the sadness of their passing. Shaking his head to clear it, he stood back up at attention.

"Welcome back guardians, huntsmen."

The four warriors nodded in respect. Saladin continued to brief them on what's to come next. But knew that the warriors needed rest for the night. Especially the huntsmen.

"Your next mission begins tomorrow. Take some rest." He pointed at Tai and Qrow, before motioning to the guardians. "You two do what you wish for the night. Summer, perhaps Frederick can get you familiarized with the Iron Temple."

Frederick nodded as their Ghosts appeared and he took Summer for a tour while also showing the Huntsman the old bed rooms for them to take a night.

While their respective guardians, as well as the huntsmen were away, Frederick's ghost goes over to Drei.

"So." Frederick's ghost says, looking at Drei. "Have you done it?"

"Done what?" Drei asked, confused.

"Actually fully fixed her up."

Drei's eye then narrowed. "You know why."

"She has a daughter now, two even. There's no reason to-"

"Well there is a reason. Several, actually." Drei practically spat at her. "You ever consider what might happen to her? That some creepy old dude may as well drug her and have his way, or a Hive wizard conducts some crazy experiment with her?"

"You're being paranoid, Drei."

"I won't risk it! She's too free-spirited to be held down like that anymore! She's a guardian to the end!"

"Then what about us then?" She shot back. "Is MY charge not a Guardian?"

"Oh for the love of-"

"You've seen how we've been fairing." Frederick's ghost pointed out. "Frederick is still doing his job as a guardian even with all that going on. Frederick has even done a little bit of her work while you two were stuck on Remnant. Who cares about these stupid rules anymore, when we can do this while trying to make ends meet?!"

"We're NOT talking about this again." Drei said with finality. "She stays like that until it's all over."

A brief moment of silence washed over the two, as Drei huffed and turned away.

"What if it doesn't?"

Drei gave no response, but continued looking away.

"What if she falls like the rest of them, huh Drei?!" She pushed on. "What if it doesn't end in time? Or if it never ends?! Are you going to deny that from her until the opportunity is gone?"

"I said, we're NOT talking about this."

Frederick's ghost sighs. She leaves to find her Guardian.

"Just like the rest of the ghosts…" She mutters to herself.

Frederick was in the armory when his ghost came over. He was busy holdin Summer back from trying to grab the old relics she wasn't allowed to touch. Frederick noticed immediately how downtrodden the ghost looked.

"Everything ok Naomi?" Fred asked via their private comm link.

"Drei is being… frustrating." She replied.

A pause flew by before she hears Frederick sigh. "You know how dangerous telling him off like that is. What if the Vanguard finds out, or worse the Speaker, about the nature of your 'fixing'. You know how he's an uptight one."

"Everything ok Freddie?" Summer asked noticing how quiet he's has gotten while talking to his ghost.

"Everything's fine Summer." He replied.

She then returned to gushing over the medieval like weapons.

0000

Deep in a Fallen bunker in the Plaguelands, a Devil Splicer was hard at work. This was a large fallen heavily modified with mechanical parts. Around its head was a pyramid-like construct that was constantly feeding him data and information. This was Kovik, Splicer Priest.

Kovik was busy with his work examining his latest test subject. In front of him, chained in place with SIVA Tendrils was a Hive Knight, roaring defiantly at him.

Paying no mind to it, he input commands into a console and grabbed a SIVA Fragment, no smaller than a human cell phone, brought it up to its head and said, "Enhance." then threw it at the chained subject.

After landing at the knights feet it erupted into a swarm of SIVA nanites engulfing the Knight. It coughed and hacked as the nanites found their way into its body. As the last of the nanites wer inhaled, the Knight twitched and spasmed. Its eyes shifting from green to red, as mechanical horns erupted from its head.

After if finished twitching, the Splicer Priest pushed a button and the chains dissipated. It approached the Hive Knight and said, "Archon Prime, can you hear me?" The knight looked him in the eye and spoke in the archons voice, "Connection established. Another for our ranks." The Knight slowly got up, then left through a tunnel that led deeper into the complex, joining more fellow Knights now slaved to SIVA and by extension, the Archon Prime.

The Splicer Priest turned to a workbench and looked at its latest achievements. It knew full well that it's only a matter of time before the Replication Chamber was either sealed away again or worse, destroyed. So the Archon Prime chose him to create their most holiest of objects: A series of weapons so immersed in the machine gift that in time, would create more of the gift itself. A weapon that doubled as a miniaturized Replication Chamber. It already made several prototype weapons using human weapons as the base. A Sniper rifle he himself dubbed EX MACHINA, an assault rifle dubbed GENESIS CHAIN. But his holy grail was a human pulse rifle called OUTBREAK PRIME. That one had the most promise to be self-sustaining. It was only a few steps away from perfect completion.

An alarm on his console alerted him that more Hive on the surface have been caught in one of his traps, and another notified him that a Hive Ogre was caught in another. Putting his assignment on hold, he alerted his skiffs to pick up his newest test subjects and collected a weapon from his bench signalling a large group of Devil Splicers to fall in on the Ogre.

00000

Summer sat on the steps of what appears to the council chamber of the Temple looking about the stone etchings that predated the City. She gazed critically at the art, as if wanting to double check something.

Frederick walked up to her side. "Someone on your mind?"

"Cayde's secretary." Summer idly mentioned, while still looking at the art. "He's… well, not the usual kind of guardian you'd expect."

"And you think he could have been an ex-Iron Lord?"

"Not an Iron Lord. If anything, he studied beside them in order to learn their secrets." She then turned her gaze away. "Mainly wanted to try and confirm some suspicions by trying to read into this. He and I sparred some time ago on Remnant, and he put up a really good fight."

Frederick hummed in thought. "Sounds like he should've been here a long time ago. Wonder why Saladin hadn't mentioned him?"

A brief silence fell between them, as they looked at the art in silence, just admiring the well-crafted beauty before them.

"You think Tai and Qrow will make it?" She asks.

"Well if they survived this long, who knows? They'll probably just need better gear. Everyone knows if you give a six year old a grown up's weapon, accidents will happen."

Summer laughed at the last bit knowing one of Ruby's old escapades that was eerily similar to what he just said.

Then she remembered something else. About the dream she had before she got there.

"You know," she said, turning to him. "I never actually bothered to go looking for my old sword. Maybe after this is all over with, I'll take a leave from duty to go find it."

Frederick's eyes narrowed. "I'm sure you know how the Vanguard feels about that, right?"

"Cayde's got my back."

"Cayde's also not what most would refer to as "a voice of reason". And the Vanguard would likely only let you delve into your past with your family because of who you are, and the fact they're alive. Other than that, they'd most likely punish you for digging too much. Though something as trivial as ticking off Zavala has never stopped you before, has it?"

"Heh, true." Summer replied. "Also, you ever notice how Lord Saladman has been a bit more… emotional lately?"

Frederick walked down a few steps not taking his eyes off the stone art.

"A ghost from his past has come back to haunt him. And most likely is taking the emotions in stride due to losing all his comrades that he'd considered brothers and sisters. With him being the sole survivor? I don't blame him. That kind of guilt wrecks anyone."

He then looked back to her.

"This I know." He stated lowly and sighs.

He walks back up the stairs and pats her shoulder.

"I'll cover for you if you want to go searching for that old piece of yours. Maybe help repair it. You have more than any right to go find it. Get some rest and think about it. After all this sword's been with me since my first life." He gave a few taps to the sword on his back, before leaving to outside the temple to leave Summer some privacy in her thoughts. Then Drei returned to her side.

"Something the matter?"

"No just thinking." She replied

"Naomi didn't fill your head with nothings did she?"

"Freddie's Ghost? No bit she seemed a but frustrated or… something. Did you have anything to do with that?"

"She's… like you in a way of being free spirited. But nothing to worry about. What's on your mind?"

"It just feels weird being away from Ruby and Yang… I don't know." Summer said.

She then pulled out her scroll, and then connected to the ComSat relay that was giving communications between Remnant and Earth. Once the device connected, she tapped a button with Ruby's face on it.

"HEY MOM!" Ruby yelled, as the sound of blades crossing each other was heard.

"Ruby what's going on?" Summer asked, already worried for Ruby at the noise in the background.

"Training in Lord Shaxx's class with Yatuhashi!" Ruby replied quickly as she again heard another sound of swords clashing.

"Why?"

"Oh, bought a new sword with the materials you left behind for me. Was I not supposed to spend anything on like that?"

"No, no, it's yours… though I may have given a bit too much..."

"Oh ok. Thanks this sword I got is AWESOME by the way. I originally wanted to experiment on it, but Shaxx said I needed to be more versatile. And get used to a different weapon if I'm to continue using my new sword if I were to use it."

"Daisy got you it?" Summer grinned knowingly.

"Yeah! How'd you know?"

"After your class sweetie."

"PUT THAT SCROLL AWAY!" Shaxx voice blasted through the speaker. "IF YOU DON'T FOCUS YOU WILL LOSE A HAND!"

"SORRY!" Ruby shouted back. A thud was heard, and then the call ended abruptly.

Summer sighs. "At least she's taking more after me now… I guess whatever I'm doing is working?"

"I don't know whether to find that scary or endearing…" Drei dryly replied. "But at least she hasn't picked up your hobby of abhorrent puns Though I can't speak for her sister..."

00000

When the morning sun rose, Summer was surprised to see Tai and Qrow already up and planning the assault.

"Ok, we got an attack plan for this whole SIVA replicator thingy Saladin is making a fuss about." Qrow immediately started off, laying down a map of the Plaguelands that he borrowed from Shiro-4.

Summer blinked. "You mean you guys actually put thought into this? I thought it we'd just put a couple arc charges in and shoot up all the machine zombies."

"Yeah, well Qrow doesn't seem to be the kind for playing cheap. Also because he just thought of something we didn't realize earlier." Tai said, a grin on his face as he spoke.

"When we go in and put in the arc charges to disable their defenses, it'll probably cause a big chain reaction that'd cause a big boom." Qrow said, outlining where the overload would lead to. "Now, since we know the fallen tend to be a bunch of cave dwellers, it should be obvious that if we steal something they like, or just piss them off enough in general, we can lure them out to where the big explosion will mainly take place, taking a massive number of soldiers into the grave from their well-guarded base." He then circles the Archon's Keep, with the drawing of an explosion on top of it

"Most likely, but now that we know they can control the SIVA lines like a tentacle we'd need to watch. Where everything is connected." Frederick pointed out. "They could come out at any time like it did back on Mars and grab you."

"And that's alright. Because I got a little magic trick up my sleeve for that occasion." Qrow said with a smirk, rubbing his hands as he did so. "So I'll be the one doing the luring. Fred, we'll need to borrow your ship, Tai and Summer will go and quickly activate the overload when I need them to."

"What will I be doing? Overwatch?" Fred asked crossing his arms. "I'm not sitting out just because Summer is here."

"If I recall correctly, Saladin needed to talk to you about the yapping guy. Something about darkness or whatnot." Qrow pointed out. "But, we could use the lift before you go. Summer doesn't have a ship after all."

"Oh goddamnit… I hate that guy so much." Frederick sighs and sounds frustrated. "I'll give ya a ride. Though I'm gonna have a permanent migraine at this rate."

He then walked out of the room to start up his ship. Just as Qrow was about to step out as well, Summer put a hand on Qrow's shoulder.

"Hey Qrow can you not mention my reputation around Fred?"

Qrow raised an eyebrow. "Was it obvious I was going to lead into that?"

"He doesn't get jealous or ballistic about it. It's just that the Speaker has made his life hell after he chose his family over his duty as a Guardian. Granted he still is one, but his family is on rocky grounds with the Speaker. He especially hates it when he's around me."

Qrow narrows his eyes at that, as well as Tai, who then spoke. "And no one is stopping this dude? He must be worse than Jacques!"

"It's more complicated than that." She says before sighing. "Long story short. The Speaker doesn't like other religions, like say the religion of the two gods back on Remnant."

"Speaking of which, Oz has noticed a rather massive drop in that as well…" Qrow couldn't help but note in thought, look at Tai who was thinking the same.

The three then shared a look between each other, before nodding in collective agreement.

Hopefully somebody would come along and change things for the better here. They then walked out of the Temple, into Frederick's ship and took off.

00000

The three were then dropped off at Lord's Watch, after having been transported by Frederick to the Plaguelands.

"This is as far as I can take you. Any further, and I'd be alerting the splicers that you're coming. Qrow, I hope you know what you're doing."

The titan then looked out from his pilot seat to see Qrow missing. Summer and Tai quickly noticed as well, after no response came from him.

"Where did he go?" Shiro asked over the line.

"Wow dick move man." Frederick replied on comms.

"WHY AREN'T YOU USING THE SPARROW?!" Tai shouted at a crow, who was flying away.

"Hey wait, didn't he do this?..."

The crow then turned around, squawking at Tai in his usual bird language "I'm a bird, BITCHES!", before it then turned around to continue flying to its destination. Tai groans in annoyance.

"Right, lets just get moving."

"What the fuck?" Frederick stated in surprise as well as silence for a good few moments. "Was he able to do that the whole time?"

"Yep." The two said in unison.

He then turned the ship around shaking his head as he did so.

"I'm gonna need a drink after this."

"I mean, it helps with doing the monkey with her, right?" Summer teased, smirking as she did.

Frederick was now in complete, total shock and disbelief, that Summer could even make a pun that involved the thought of him doing… THAT with his wife.

"Strike that, I need a drink now…" Frederick awkwardly said.

"Take me with you..." Drei softly whispered to himself.

Leaving the three humans in search of the nearest bar to drown his thoughts away of his friend's awfully done sex pun. Tai and Summer howled with laughter, and would've forgotten their mission if it weren't for a Hive Breeder dropping a poison cloud on top of Summer. Immediately drawing their ire at the rude interruption, Summer immediately pulled out her Gjallarhorn, and blasted the foolish wizard to ashes, as well as the few acolytes surrounding her.

"Well," Tai cleared his throat. "Shall we? Pretty sure some splicers have to be camping out there."

"Yeah we should." Summer replied putting away her Gjallarhorn.

The two then got on a sparrow, Tai clinging to Summer as she drove.

"Just for the record, you need to show me how to operate one of these things." Tai muttered under his breath, causing Summer to smirk under her helmet.

"Just gotta spread your wings is all." Summer giggled before revving the throttle and boosting off to Giant's Husk, as Tai held onto her for his life, experiencing a mixture of laughter, and terror from the sheer speeds he was going.

"The splicers built a fortress to protect the SIVA complex. Shortsightedly, they used the oil tanker as a reactor." Shiro-4 stated, as they drove. "That's our ticket."

"Roger that Shiro." Summer replied.

"Be careful Guardian, Huntsman.." Saladin said, as he then got on the line. "From here on out, you'll only have the support for one another."

Qrow gave a cocky squawk in response. This caused Saladin to pause for a moment.

"He's a bird now sir." Shiro, Tai, and Summer said in unison.

Saladin was quiet on the other end, but it was very clear that he was having trouble processing this.

The two then made it to Giant's Husk, quickly coming across the broken down ship. A small group of spliced soldiers were on guard, waiting for any intruders to come by. The whine of the sparrow made them immediately turn their focus on them, while one of their captains shouts an order to attack. SIVA laser fire streaked towards their direction Lighting up the area bright red. Tai jumped off and rolled to cover, while Summer then leapt into the air, immediately activating her arcblade and diving in, tearing through soldiers left and right as the smell of seared flesh and screams filled the air.

But Tai didn't just stay there. He whipped out a shotgun and ran up the stairs as the Fallen were distracted, decking a Dreg as well as taking down two sniper shanks, before blasting a captain with a well-aimed shot, breaking its shields as he then proceeded to roundhouse kick it off the ship, sending it to an untimely death.

Summer looked at Tai, impressed. "I didn't think you'd go and try that."

Taiyang sighs. "Look, I know I can be stuck-up sometimes, but I'm still a huntsman."

She then smiled. "I know. Still, thanks for the help. Snipers can be so annoying at times…"

The two then went deeper into the ship, and encountered four dregs, two of which earned two knife stabs, and the other two receiving punches in the face that knocked their heads off.

Tai wiped the infected ether off his arms, grimacing. "Is this a common thing for you guys? These things just dying in a single hit?"

Summer merely nodded.

"Well, I could imagine it being a devil of a time to wipe the stains off the armor. Especially with your cloak."

Summer then proceeded to laugh, before Qrow groaned in the comms.

"Are you guys there yet? Or are you just making puns at the drop off point?"

"Hey, no need to hail hellfire on us birdie." Summer teased.

00000

Qrow Branwen, meanwhile, was sitting around in annoyance, as he listened to the onslaught of puns, before eventually getting irritated enough. "Look, I've already made it to Archon's Keep, and am about to piss these guys off by teasing them with one of their prized offerings." He said, as he lazily threw the Perfected SIVA Offering up and down. "So if you could get a move on and disable the SIVA already, that'd be great. Because eventually they're gonna catch on."

"...Did you make sure not to lick it?"

"Oh for the love of-" Qrow sighs in annoyance, and cuts off the comms. He then peaks out from his hiding spot.

Dozens, if not up to a hundred of high-value splicers were standing in the room, angrily tearing apart the place as they tried to search for him. He looked at his scroll, and attempted to see their location. They were at the reactor, most likely busy dealing with some fallen guards at the moment. "Good…" He then smirked, as he then stood up, clearing his throat.

The splicers below quickly noticed him, and aimed their weapons at him. When the man had no reaction, they slowly began to look curiously at the intruder, confused as to what to do. Speaking to no one in particular, Qrow called out.

"Hey Aksis. How's it hanging buddy?"

**"You…" **the Archon's voice crackled through the body of a nearby servitor.** "You're not the brightest of folk, are you?"**

"Well I was standing here the whole time." He held his arms out to the sides. "Sooo, kettle meet pot?"

**"You're a brave one, Qrow Branwen."** Aksis said, as the SIVA defense systems came alive. "But you've only played into our hands."

SIVA tendrils then slowly made his way to the ledge he was on. Qrow looked at them curiously, as if they were supposed to do something. A beep from his scroll then notified him that his job was done.

"Do you scavengers happen to know Neutron?"

**"Neutron?"**

"Because," Qrow chucked the offering at the Servitor. "I gotta blast!"

He morphed almost immediately, catching all the splicers off guard, as he quickly flew away. There was a stunned silence for a few moments.

And then a rumble shuddered throughout the room.

00000

The SIVA tendril going along the coast line kept overloading the nodes on it as the two drove. Tai kept looking in the direction of the keep, a little worried for Qrow as they sped past fallen soldiers.

Summer was also worried, more so than Tai. She looked to him. "You think he'll be OK?"

"Knowing Qrow, he's probably already in bird form after luring a decent amount of them to the surface." Tai's face scrunched up in thought. "He SHOULD be fine, but what if-" He was then cut off by an explosion off in the distance, signifying that the overload had finally activated. Hundreds of burning splicer bodies launched out into the skies, falling back to the ground with some of them landing in lava. For a moment, they were silent, as they moved into full view of the explosion.

They looked for any sign of Qrow, before hearing the sound of a flask being dropped. Slowly, they turned around to face the source of the noise.

"Bah, fuckin thing is empty at a time like this…" Qrow slurred out from on top of a rock, before raising a middle finger at the air. "Huntsmen 1. Guardians… ehhh, maybe 1.5, I'll give 'em that since they helped us out back home, and assisted in my gambit."

He then turned to them, looking Tai in the eyes as he then picked up a scorch cannon he stole on the way out. "Isn't it a thing where the ladies are supposed to go first?"

"Fuck you too Qrow."

00000

**Aquilos:Now for our favorite part, Viewer Mail. I would like to take this chance to say, that while we love the support, using Guest accounts makes it really hard to respond to you guys. Please have proper accounts, we like talking to you.**

**Iron Lord Gore:Ok 2 things 1st has anyone seen saint 14? Or osiris? We where supposed to get a drink with taiko. 2nd someone needs to talk to team rwby about intimacy as well... let's say the vault of glass had some simulations inside and we need to be prepared if the true form of the darkness comes to pass.**

**Diluation:Aquilos, may I use the angry welsh voice here?**

**Aquilos: Approved, you may proceed.**

**Diluation:Thank you. *ahem***

**OK. So if you go into the Infinite Forest, you do one of the story missions for future Mercury you get during the CoO campaign. WE SEE HIS BLOODY CORPSE! SAINT-14 IS ALREADY DEAD, AND OSIRIS, IS BEING THE INFINITE HERMIT, IN THE INFINITE FOREST, KNOWING THAT HE IS DEAD! HE IS STIFF! HE IS BEREFT OF LIFE! HE IS FUCKING DEAD JIM!**

***clears throat* Thank you for the review.**

**Beyond the dying stars light: Are you going to include the God's reactions to all of this?**

**Aquilos: Ok see that scenario's a bit more complicated since having the twin Gods around kinda derails a lot of other things. What we can tell you all right now is that we're working on trying to fit these pieces together, but it's a challenge to not make it sound like we're just pulling crap out of our ass.**

**Diluation:It was also one of the issues that delayed the chapter. Ptabs' notes are still being looked over as we go to this very day, and we're not all on at the same time when we work, which makes collaboration difficult.**

**Guest: Don't tell me that the bad guys are going to get the Relic of Knowledge!?**

**Aquilos: We're not there yet. Relax**

**Diluation: Also, you forget what generally happens when a superior allying force comes walking up to your front door.**

**Another Guest:I would like to see you guys take on warframe similar to ptabs take on destiny like remnant is in the tau system and the Tenno rediscover it.**

**Diluation:I have no experience, nor drive with Warframe whatsoever. Though that said, I do have some other ideas that sort of follow Ptabs' formula with the Remnant of a Rose. I'll talk about them next chapter if anyone happens to be interested, or just PMs me directly.**

**Aquilos: Hi 5 year warframe veteran here, I'm just gonna say that the massive technological, cultural, and overall power gap between the Warframe Universe and RWBYverse is way too big to bridge. And to try a crossover ends with 1 of four scenarios.**

**Remnant gets screwed by Grineer**

**Remnant gets bankrupted and enslaved by Corpus**

**Remnant gets scorched by Sentients**

**Infested happens**

**Alright? Alright.**

**We have been Fireteam Nero, and thanks for joining us again.**

_**~ In memory of Ptabs0101 ~**_


	12. Keep of Rust

**Not much in terms of A/N this time so let's just jump into it. **

Lord Saladin watched as Frederick, Summer, Qrow and Tai left. He smiled knowing that this long awaited nightmare will finally be put behind him. The camaraderie made him remember his brother's and sisters. Fighting side by side. But he felt the presence of another. Which wasn't his friend Tira Karn. But rather the Speaker himself with three Titans in black commando type 0 armor with blacked out visors. Saladin narrowed his eyes with distaste.

"Speaker… to what do I owe this visit?" Saladin asked.

"It is about the heathen that still continues to breathe around our champion." The Speaker said as he walked to the center of the room.

"What does Frederick's, personal beliefs, have to do with anything Speaker? All he did was help me in a time of need, assisting in the battle against SIVA." Saladin replied crossing his arms.

"Drei reported to me that he used his… gifts… to destroy the Fallen resurrected champion." The Speaker stated. "And caused the destruction of ancient technology in the Plaguelands."

"Spare me the false concern, Speaker, I know what you're here for." Saladin stated as he slammed the handle of his axe on the stone floor, the sound echoing around the chamber. "And my decision is final, he has more than earned the right to claim the title of Iron Lord."

"No. Not while his heretics bring about discord throughout the City, which only has only spread their corruption. We've had dealt with one blow due to the faction wars. Let us not have another due to his false god." Speaker stated.

Saladin furrowed his brow.

"Is this genuine concern, or are you trying to justify your jealousy? Jealousy of a power that has long escaped your grasp, and understanding?" The Speaker's bodyguards leveled their rifles at Saladin, but the Iron Lord didn't even flinch.

"Is this a threat? Speaker?" Saladin's grip tightened around the handle of the Iron Axe. "You and your cohorts should already know that this course of action would be most, _**unwise.**_" The way Saladin said that last word made the Speaker's bodyguards step back, an almost palpable chill settling in the room. After a few tense seconds, the Speaker waved for his men to stand down.

"Frederick cannot be allowed to claim the title. And you would do well to ensure that. Take care… _Lord _Saladin."

And with that the Titans fell in behind the Speaker as they all left the Iron Temple. When the doors slammed shut, Saladin turned back to the bright burning brazier in front of him.

"How long before you realize Speaker, that all this… will be your undoing."

00000

The smell of burnt metal and flesh filled the air as the group entered the keep, the corpses of the smoldering machines laying dormant as they moved through the area.

"How you handling it fireteam?" Shiro asked over the comms. "Qrow made it out ok?"

"It's pretty hard to keep a bird down, Shiro." Qrow said in response. "Sure, the thing might be airborne, but the Fallen don't know anything about Remnant. We still have my sister to call on just in case we need something like this."

As they journeyed through the complex they came across a large chamber. Summer was reminded of the Prison of Elders due to the similarities to the three large domes scattered across the place, minus of course of all the SIVA tentacles all around the place and the torn banners of the House of Kings.

Qrow took a look around and drank from his flask. "What the hell is this place?"

Drei materialized and went to a console and scanned it. "This place is called the Archon's Forge. Once, it belonged to the House Kings as a sort of combat arena. In order to rise above their stations, Fallen were to fight one another, the strongest were then elevated, the defeated were either demoted or killed. After the Splicers ran them out, they took it over and used it as an arena for new recruits to prove themselves."

Qrow nodded. _Next time we get here, I should probably invite her…_

Tai, however, couldn't help but notice the lava. "Wouldn't they not wanna get incinerated or something? Doesn't seem like the brightest idea to fight around lava."

"The Fallen aren't exactly the type to not play dirty, what with being scavengers and all." Shiro explained. "I wouldn't be surprised if they threw each other in that in order to win."

"Sheesh; talk about no morality…" Tai muttered under his breath.

They swiftly passed through the Archon's Forge and entered a cave, ignoring the dead splicers and machines that surrounded them as they moved through. As they did this, red tendrils raced to a shank, causing it to whir to life with a guttural laugh. They turned to face the presence of Aksis once more, as he too followed in.

"**So you found out our Keep's weakness, well done Rose! I thought it would be a little too much for your mushy brain and ghost to figure it out, which I then would've had to spill it out for you, but you worked it just fine!"**

"What do you want, freak?" Tai challenged the shank, entering a combat stance in case he decides to blow it up on them.

The Archon gave a mechanical laugh. **"Nothing. I just wanna watch as you lead yourselves to your doom. Watching as the infamous Summer Rose has her teammates ripped from under her, faced with three foes the likes of which she wouldn't be able to counter. Three of which, by the by, are but mere... experiments of ours."**

An alarm sounded off in the distance, catching their attention.

"**Well well well! Would you look at the time? For it seems that the cavalry has arrived…"**

As Aksis flew away, a squadron of dregs accompanied by an elite splicer captain came rushing at them from down the path. Summer simply unsheathed Boltcaster as Qrow and Tai fired their weapons, dealing with the small fry as Summer engaged the captain in battle.

One of the dregs' head popped in a shower of blood, causing a glowing red orb of SIVA to pop out and home in on Summer, catching her by surprise and causing her to stumble, letting the captain have a moment of opportunity.

The captain, knowing it could not hope to match Summer in combat, stayed at range with a shrapnel launcher, moving back as she ran at him with her sword's barrier up. As soon as the click was heard, not only had the captain's allies been slain, but it was about to meet a sword through the gut, his shield taken out by a couple of swift slashes from Summer. The sword pierced his chest, and he fell limp on the ground as Summer pulled out, infected ether staining the ground.

"**Hey, do you mind asking the old man in the background if he likes what I've done with the place?" **The Archon asked mockingly. **"It looked a little shallow, this cave. Like him, but with total darkness and no flair, really boring..."**

"Mark my words, Archon." Saladin growled through the radio. "You and your ilk will not survive. This place shall become your tomb."

"**Maybe? Maybe not?" **It laughed. **"But I think I should let you know that many 'Fallen' have already stepped up and taken it beyond here… you remember Taniks The Scarred?"**

Summer's eyes narrowed at that. _The Hunter Vanguard killer..._

"**He was fully machine. Now he's even more. A machine demi-god in service to us, and us alone. Made his base on Luna." **As they turned a corner, they saw it speed out of sight, only catching a bare glimpse of it as he chortled at Saladin's ignorance. **"If you honestly thought we'd just sit here all day as you amassed your forces, you're sorely mistaken. Already have we begun operations to setup replication complexes elsewhere. This is but a testing ground… the beginning of the end. The Alpha stage to the Omega stage. The end of humanity, and the rise of the Perfected Eliksni."**

They came into The Warrens, thankfully a more opened up area compared to the cave they were just recently in. Small groups of splicers awaited them upon entry, but were no match for the swordsmanship of Summer Rose, who made swift work of the enemies before her.

They heard the Archon tsk from another cave entrance. **"Someone is getting antsy~. You'd best save all the energy you can you three. Wouldn't want to not have any real results from a lack of preparation…"**

"You yourself should've saved all the SIVA you could've kept too, but instead you came out guns blazing." Qrow pointed out, as they followed the voice deeper within.

"**As if you could stop us now." **The arrogance was evident in his tone of voice as he mocked them. Annoyed, they followed the voice into some vents, finding the shank on the other side of the grating.

"**So tell me, how is your friend Rahndel doing?" **Aksis asked curiously. **"Annoying bastard he is. Would make for an excellent soldier though."**

Growling in annoyance, Summer pulled out Thorn and shot the shank, shake and explode. They made their way through the vents, jumping out of the opening to see yet another splicer on their right.

"**Y'know, it's rude to interrupt others..." **Aksis said with his new body, a bit of annoyance creeping in. As he said this, a few splicers had popped out of their cover to collectively fire at them. Qrow slid to cover and morphed, while Tai and Summer quickly shot them down. Moments later, the sound of a sword cutting through flesh made itself known, followed by surprised and confused fallen death cries.

They continued making their way through, until a set of lasers blocked their path.

Drei then materialized, moving over to a console. "I'll have this down in a moment, prote-"

Just as he tries to finish his sentence, the lasers promptly deactivated, causing Aksis to laugh. **"Did you honestly think I was going to just pull another one of those? Blind little lights!"**

Tai responded by caving Aksis' face in. "Just shut up already damn you! Ugh..."

They then went through another series of vents, before coming into an old control room.

"So when we stop the production of SIVA; because it'll be that easy, what then?" Drei asked Shiro over the comms.

"Kovik, one of the more well known splicer priests, has been experimenting with Hive. Saladin is hoping that you four could shut him down quick." As he said this, the three went up to a console, Drei materializing it to unlock the door on their left. "Other than that? We'll be going straight to Aksis and his cronies. We have others that are coming to deal with the like of Taniks and the resurrected prime."

"On note of that, maybe we could convince that Randal guy to help." Tai offered. "If it's beyond Earth already, he might not have a place to run away to. He might help us out with the others."

"Doubtful of that… stay on your toes fireteam. Coordinates say you're nearing the replication chamber." Was all he said, before Shiro got off the line.

As Drei finished up with the console, the door opened to reveal a couple splicer dregs, that were swiftly shot down before they could react. As they were about to get a move on, Qrow spotted something on the monitors above the console. A SIVA cluster that seemed to resonate SIVA, but wasn't targeting them. The others took note of the lack of footfalls from him, and turned around.

Drei took note of where Qrow was looking, and flew up to inspect it as well. "Interesting… this is a SIVA fragment. Oddly enough without any coding to it." Drei then looked at Summer. "Seems like we have another treasure hunt on our hands."

Summer groaned in annoyance. "I swear, if I have to grind another Court Of Oryx, just to find out what these do…" She then shook her head. "Put it in storage."

Drei bobbed in response, and started to digitize the fragment. "There's an audio file that happened to be in this. Playing it now, and archiving it for later."

"-don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want…" A feminine voice cried out over and over again in abject terror, sending chills down their spine. "Ghost? Ghost, where are you?"

As the audio file ends, the three couldn't help but shudder in response to the message.

"That was almost like something out of a horror film…" Tai muttered aloud.

"That… was Skorri." Saladin said, horror and rage gripping his voice. "I never even got to see her die, or even hear her last words."

"Calibrating the scanner to locate SIVA fragments within the radar." Drei said, as he finished putting it in storage. "Summer, I believe Tyra would find these of interest. There may be data of Clovis Bray in older, other fragments."

"Maybe at a later date…" Summer said, facing away from them as she turned back to the door. "Let's just keep moving and focus on the mission. I'd rather not have a _fragmented memory _of a life story."

Tai couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the pun, while Qrow rolled his eyes. But oddly enough, despite saying it… Summer didn't so much as crack a smile. But none of them noticed it. For how could they?

They moved down a set of stairs, spotting a splicer captain that gave them the stink eye, before noticing Summer's expression. It paused, before laughing at her. **"You found it, didn't you little Rose? Hey," **It then pointed to a pile of SIVA webbing. **"Perhaps you should also consider looking here. She left it behind after all."**

The captain with his voice then moved to a hatch. **"I'll be down here watching your demise. Oh, and if I were you by the way? You should consider going in alone, and let your teammates deliver the medallion. Your teammates. Will. Die." **Was all Aksis said, before jumping into it.

Summer took a deep breath, before sighing and moving over to the webbing to inspect it. Sure enough, a wolf medallion laid inert inside of the webbing, dust covering its shape. She held it aloft in her hand, as Drei moved it to storage.

They looked to the hatch. No ladder or stairs. Just a leap of faith onto a slant of metal.

"I'll go down and scout. Summer, you know what to do if we're getting Tai down." Qrow then morphed again, and flew in.

"Oh come on, I'm sure it isn't going to be THAT big a fall." Tai says, as he then attempted to go down. Summer catches him by the collar of his shirt as he gets a good look at how far down it is.

He looks up with a sheepish smile, meeting her amused grin. "Please?"

"What did I say about becoming a Fallen?" She jest, as she then jumps in.

"I'M STILL MIGHTY!" Tai cries out, torn between joy and fear as they slid down, wind rushing past them as they neared the ground. Summer double jumps at the last second while holding Tai, stopping their momentum and safely landing on the rocky ground before the replication chamber. Fallen peered out from the edges, and were about to shoot them. Much to their dismay, they failed to notice Qrow transforming back to normal behind them, as he then proceed to knock them off the cliff with a couple cleaves from his sword, killing a dozen splicer dregs and a captain in mere seconds.

A signal flare was shot on their right, alerting all that still remained that they were here. As splicers poured in from the right, Summer held Thorn at the ready, while Tai pulled out his hand cannon.

"Body shot them. The red orbs come from their heads." Summer warned.

"I'm fairly familiar with that already." He said in response.

The two then shot down a squadron of dregs and vandals with ruthless precision, the splicers unable to land a single hit on either of them. They then pressed through them as Qrow pushed from behind, slicing down dregs and vandals as he went. As they came face to face with a servitor and a few shanks, Summer had Drei swap her to Gjallarhorn, and fire a rocket at them, decimating them within seconds.

Another shank flew down, speaking again with a mock voice of Drei. **"Why, I just built that! Did you really have to do that Summer? Couldn't just ignore it like all the other guardians?"**

Drei almost immediately materialized. "SWITCH OFF YOU WRITHING TENTACLE VIRUS!"

"**Heh. Cute." **Aksis said, before flying over to her. **"Ah, but here it finally begins. You seemed to have ignored my warning, a shame really. Now nobody will know that you died with honor."**

"She's gonna win whatever we're going up against you freak." Qrow said, as he hoisted his sword at him.

"**Ahhh, the beauty of ignorance… once I've taken you three as part of my mind, soon you shall see past the light and dark and be free." **They could hear the smile in his tone as he spoke. **"Well, regardless you're coming up on our prototypes. Treat them as rough as you like… you won't break them." **The shank then flew away, narrowly dodging a swipe from Qrow.

Qrow sheathed his sword. "Bastard." He spat.

They then moved back up to where Qrow originally was, the doors automatically opening as they approached. They saw a large, dark and empty hallway, SIVA strands barely visible within the darkness.

"Dark and creepy." Qrow couldn't help but comment.

"At least they're good artists?" Tai offered nonchalantly.

"I'd say their moral standards are pretty low though." Summer couldn't help but note.

"They do seem to have _FALLEN_ in that department." Tai followed up on it being a joke, causing the two to giggle. Qrow sighed.

"Just my luck that you two are doing this the whole mission…"

They then proceeded down the hallway, lights turning on as they went.

"I did what I could to protect them. I knew what would happen if somebody found it though." Saladin spoke over the comms as they walked. "We were touched by the light… I didn't even think about anything that's not the dark could possibly take us. Until it did."

As they traversed the SIVA bridge leading into the chamber, Summer couldn't help but feel a sense of unease. Like they were walking into a tomb…

Qrow put his hand on her shoulder, causing her to jolt. She turned around to see him beaming with a smile that practically radiated 'we got this' as he nodded.

Summer took a deep breath.

And went in.

What at first looked like cocoons or strands when they came into the room, turned out to be more of the zombie humans… except bigger. Almost unnaturally so.

"These are human…" Drei muttered aloud.

"Human? That ain't right." Tai muttered as well.

"Not possible." Shiro said.

Saladin simply remained silent. He never wanted to entertain the idea, but he had a feeling of what was going to happen next, for it was obvious to him what this experiment is.

As they went to activate the self-destruct console, they picked up movement on their radar.

"**Y'know what?" **They then turned to see the shank from before. **"I think it's finally time I show you what I've been up to."**

As the doors began to become blocked by SIVA, they heard a distorted audio file, indiscernible on whether or not it was male or female. "NO! I HAVE TO-"

"**The Iron Lords… are mine." **He said, as the door was plugged up by SIVA.

They turned around, weapons at the ready. Gone was one of the dead, and in its place… no axe.

They looked up at the ceiling to see a revenant Iron Lord fall to the ground, an axe in it's morphed hands.

The dead have awoken.

00000

**Diluation:And so somewhere, a war with the cabal starts on Mars. Now onto the reviews.**

**Iron Lord Gore:****Um... (brings out perfect paradox) you do realise that is his FUTURE right? I made peace with it with that said do you really know where he is ... screw it im just gonna ask osiris by the way another great chapter.**

**Diluation:Honestly, I just wanted to use the TSLAYP thing, like the Guest pointed out. Incoming spoilers for those who don't read the tabs.**

**Aquilos:*glares***

**Diluation:Not the Iron Rose, the CoO Destiny lore spoilers.**

**Aquilos:Ok, you're good.**

**Diluation:This said though, Saint-14 is actually 100% dead, even with Osiris's control over the Forest. Osiris doesn't even have that much control over it even with what we did, as in the final lore tab of the verses, it is implied that the Vex have already replaced Panoptes, or have sent another mind from another Infinite Forest-like place. So even with what we did, our efforts were for essentially nothing but meeting the hermit in that DLC.**

**Mastermind4892: That was fun! I loved the part with Ruby, do NOT use your phone in the middle of one of Lord Shaxx's matches! In the words of one Byf's own friends, "Shaxx isn't straight, he sexually identifies as a megaphone!"**

**Aquilos: That actually gives me an idea for an Omake…**

**Literally everyone else: **_**Nervous Sweating**_

**Animeak116:OH JIMMY NEUTRON I MISS THAT SHOW**

**Diluation:...**

**Dustinz:...**

**Aquilos:...Why are you reacting on here? YOU WORK ON THIS!**

**VATS:*innocent whistling***

**Diluation:Goddamnit, that makes two that accidentally did this… three, and I might as well make it a party.**

**Aquilos: I mean if you do we can go do like, Menagarie? Idk, I haven't played since June. **

**Animeak:****I didn't get to see the last final bit of the chapter because I was busy. So when i read the final product, I was surprised by the Jimmy Neutron reference. **

**Diluation:I bet my maxed out warlock on D2 and D1 that another one of us joins in on this.**

**Anyhow, ****redditus inspiratione! Per audacia ad astra!**

_**~ In memory of Ptabs0101 ~**_


	13. Hortus Ferrum SIVA

**Diluation:While we wouldn't normally answer a review up here, I believe it is necessary to get some confusion over with the previous chapter. It was a short chapter for two reasons:One being that this one is going to be twice as long compared to the other chapters, and we didn't wanna post a 30-page long chapter from gdocs by the time we got to it. We would've posted this immediately, but we're trying to use all the time we can so we can go over the notes. You might ask what's keeping us from just outright focusing on the plot. Well, it's a pretty penny for our thoughts, but we can't tell. All major stuff.**

**In writing the previous chapter, I came to the realization that Ptabs never written how the Destiny missions would actually go. They were implied to have already been done in typical Summer Rose fashion, yes, but had never written the bits themselves and only stuck to Remnant. This raised an issue, as we never got to the actual 'Iron' part of the story before he passed(contrary to what"yes" said, as there was no Iron being shown before-hand.).**

**With little idea as to what to do, we decided that perhaps we would write it through the perspective of how we think guardians usually run the missions in the game. And I think we can all agree that we more than likely just blew through the missions when we first did them, and that guardians in the game are probably not even paying that much attention to detail, since it's just in their line of everyday duty.**

**For those of you that may be curious, the Shadows will have their own arc in the sequel to this story. We just can't fit it here since it is not 'Thorns Of A Rose' or something of the sort, and we need to complete this before we can continue with that arc. **

**With that said, it's time for a boss battle!**

00000

There was no way to know who exactly they were before conversion. From what Drei's memory bank was able to scramble for in the heat of the moment, the abomination was one of Saladin's teammates, and the remnants of the DNA on the body closely matched **Felwinter**. Nanites swirled around it, a red hue on its eight foot tall body. Tendrils danced wildly from its back, exuding nanites that powered up the shield. Iron armor covered with black soot and SIVA tendrils keeping it ingrained into the body was visible, the only normal looking part being the ruined leggings. In its right hand it held the ax, which had an orange hue to it, and on its left a gatling gun for an arm, which had a RPG compartment..

The revenant slammed the axe towards Summer's location almost immediately as she and her teammates dived out of the way in separate directions, a column of fire speeding past their original position. They in turn fired at the revenant, their attacks making no notable dent in it no matter what they did as the revenant fired its gatling-gun without even flinching, occasionally attempting to pounce on one of them. Shotgun blasts to the face, making it stumble into the environment, even the mighty Gjallarhorn did nothing to it. It continued its rampage, as if unaffected.

"We've got to find a way to bring that shield down, or we're dead!" Tai shouted out amidst the sounds of bullets flying past him while he reloaded.

"Nice observation blondie!" Qrow shouted at him, causing the revenant to turn its attention to him and pounce, barely missing him as he morphed away, returning to normal behind a pillar of SIVA. "Maybe you should also point out the fact that WE'RE RUNNING OUT OF AMMO!"

"You two, calm down!" Summer shouted out, as she dodged a rocket from the monster.

As she said that, the shank from earlier appeared in some glass windows that were in the room. "**Yes, please do not begin screaming. I'm trying to eat here!" **The shank them made the sounds of chips being eaten, before abruptly pausing upon watching Summer fire another Gjallarhorn at the revenant, watching as the weapon did nothing to break its shields. "**Actually, do go and do so. It makes it even better to watch in retrospect."**

The revenant screamed bloody murder as it leapt once more, pouncing on top of Summer. It made to try and cut her in half with the ax, but it abruptly paused and began twitching, moaning and groaning as it did so as the light from the ax left it.

Summer feebly tried to heft it off with her knife so she could move. She stopped upon hearing its voice speak to her.

"_Kill… kill me." _Felwinter croaked out.

It then released a scream so loud that it turned Omnigul's own to shame, and made the group's blood turn cold at the sound of it. It then raised the ax in position to strike, causing Tai to panic.

"NO!" Tai said as he rushed forth, punching it so hard that it stumbled, freeing Summer from its grasp and allowing Qrow to swoop in and grab Summer, Tai quickly retreating with him. But that didn't stop what was about to come.

The revenant raised the ax, ready to strike…

And bashed its head into it.

It hit itself with the ax over and over, with a cry of pain sounding out each time it hit itself, each gruesome sound of flesh splitting open making itself known, as the shield began to falter in order to heal it. Blood and nanites spurted from the wound, growing bigger and bigger until the revenant stopped what it was doing in exhaustion.

They were wordless. Shocked to a standstill, as they watched it attack itself, the swarm getting bigger by the moment.

Then the swarm starting moving to them, like a hive of angry hornets.

In response, Summer pulled out Boltcaster and cast a couple discs of arc energy at the swarm, creating an arc storm that decimated the swarm. The axe then lit on fire and the monster screamed again, turning to them with the shield down.

"He's… he's still alive!" Saladin suddenly spoke in the comms, sudden horror and panic gripping his voice, as he then called out in desperation. "Summer; please! Try to bring him to reason if you can!"

The words fell on deaf ears however, as Summer was more focused on taking it down to prevent Tai and Qrow from getting infected. The three rushed forth, Summer and Qrow with their swords in hand, Tai blasting the shotgun into its face as they neared. It roared in pain, and slammed the ground, pushing them back with the exception of Summer, who had dug Boltcaster into its knees and held on, while Qrow just morphed back over and continued his assault. As Qrow unleashed a series of rapid slashes at the revenant, Summer pulled out a flux grenade and stuck it to its face. She pulled out Boltcaster and began to climb over it.

"Don't get blinded," She started, as she climbed up to its shoulder and leapt off, doing a 180 mid-air. "By the light!"

As the grenade exploded, she cast two more discs of arc while Qrow kept the frontal assault up. Tai had made his way back to the revenant, trying to pull the axe off of its fused body. That was, until its shield came back and they backed off, the revenant now severely damaged, its back now opened up to reveal SIVA tendrils wildly thrashing at the air.

"**Hmph. Well that was an interesting development..." **The shank then raised the alarm, causing splicers to drop from above. "**Keep them occupied! I shall remove this anomaly myself with the remaining test subjects. This one was a lost cause to begin with anyhow."**

The revenant cried out in a pained rage as it barreled through some of the splicers, ax raised to slam on Summer. The other cocoons then took on an eerie red glow, as fallen soldiers fired from underneath them.

"I got them!" Qrow called out, as ran to the right, morphing and flying around to strike them from behind. The fallen took note of this, and turned their attention to the bird.

And much to their misfortune, the revenant did the same.

It chased it with reckless abandon, breaking down the environment around the place as it did so. Qrow took note of it following him, and looked to the windows the shank was at for a moment as if considering something. He then continued flying, deciding that it would be better to take the ax from it first.

Qrow dodged and weaved through the bullets with his small form, as Tai and Summer then stepped in to start slicing and punching the fallen vandals and dregs to save their teammate. The fallen found themselves ill-prepared, as their numbers were thinned out aggressively, fallen chopped in half or knocked out from Boltcaster's sharp edge, and Tai's fists.

Meanwhile, the revenant was slamming the axe into everything that was in its way as it aggressively fired at Qrow. Small metal walls crumpled like paper, braziers knocked over that spilled the fiery remains of its dead brethren that made the ax brighter, even the very foundation of the replication chamber was getting dents in the floor. A few windows were broken from rockets that have been fired at him, much to his dismay.

Summer couldn't help but be flabbergasted at the sight of the broken windows, having never seen such a thing happen in all her missions and strikes. The damn things had always stayed up despite everything that happened in the other missions from back then, and to see one them break now left her speechless.

Qrow squawked at Summer. "Do something!"

"Summer, I get that the windows are broken, but we should probably do something for Qrow there!" Tai suggested, as he tried to look around for anything that could disable the shield. He yelped as he narrowly avoided a wave of embers that nearly grazed him, the light from the braziers powering up the ax even further.

Summer shook her head, and narrowed her silver eyes in thought. "_When it hit itself, the ax was able to disable the shield and damage it. So what could…"_

Her silver eyes then sparked with an idea. "Drei, what's my light reserves?"

"Are you crazy!? If Gjallarhorn doesn't do it, what would your super do to it?!"

The revenant roared, and slammed the ax into the ground, a hellish pillar of flame traveling towards Summer as she blinked away from it, the flames bringing up splicer corpses and metal up as it went. It then pulled up the axe, which was now at full power. "_What the axe does."_

"Tai, Qrow! Just hold out a little longer! I got a plan!" She said, as she began to watch the super bar on her HUD.

"I'd very much like to hear it then!" Tai called out as he backflipped away from an incoming swing, Qrow standing behind the revenant.

"You noticed how that thing has solar light on it?" Summer pointed out, as it slammed the ground with the top of the ax, releasing a wave of fire that spread throughout the room. "It was hitting itself with that earlier!"

"And what's the big plan to make it hit itself again?!" Qrow quickly morphed out to say, as he morphed back to try and shake off the rocket coming at him.

The shank remained silent, as it came to the realization of what Summer was about to do. And it made perfect sense.

"It won't be hitting itself. I'll be hitting it!"

"With what?!" Tai and Qrow shouted out.

"Just a little longer!" She called out, as her super was only mere slivers away. The alarm sounded again, catching everyone's attention as more splicers fell down from the ceiling.

"**Hus e ze! Dres sha ha! Do sha ra de!"**

The splicers then rushed at Summer with a cry of rage, shock blades and guns blazing with full knowledge of what she was about to try… but much to their bad luck, or the revenant taking control, ended up right into the path of the rampaging revenant's axe, getting turned to ashes as a result of their efforts. The revenant then began to stand still and twitch violently, moaning and groaning and giving Summer the time she needs to strike.

And so did the rose show her thorns.

Arc light covered her form as she used Boltcaster as a catalyst, creating an arc explosion on her that dropped her shields to half. She blinked forth, and striking like a bolt of lightning, broke the SIVA shield in a single hit. She slashed and slashed again at it, it flinching every single time until it finally had enough.

It raised its ax with a roar of rage, and with one final effort while still being attacked, slammed the ax down straight on top of Boltcaster. Boltcaster exploded violently as it was snapped in half, sending Summer flying back into the door. It stumbled onto its knees before falling flat on its face, the SIVA melting from it and freeing the ax from its grasp. Tai walked up to the axe and attempted to pick it up. He found that it was quite heavy, but was still able to hold it.

"Sheesh! And you guys lift this much on a regular basis or something?" Tai let out, as he held the ax in a combat ready stance, grouping up with Summer.

Summer groaned in pain as she stood up, a few cracks from her recovering back making itself audible. "You ask that, yet our daughter can lift and move Crescent Rose with no trouble?" Sheesh, I need to remind someone not to step on my back…" She then looked mournfully at her ruined Boltcaster. Only the willbreaker shard was all that remained.

"**BA! Er sloat, hus! Win!"**

The alarm sounded once more as the two cocoons finished glowing, and went up into the ceiling. Mere moments later, two more revenants fell down, both with drills instead of axes as more splicers followed shortly after with a scorch captain fell, who lead the charge as it fell alongside an elite servitor. The revenants released an animalistic cry of rage as Drei marked them as **Gheleon** and **Radegast**, who then jumped over the fallen, intent on either infecting or outright killing them. But even with Summer's super gone, now it was they that were at a disadvantage. A huge one.

Flames still burning hot, Tai decoded to slam the axe down and send a pillar of fire rushing to one of the revenants as they landed, causing it to fly above them and out a window from the sheer force and momentum the revenant of Gheleon carried.

Tai couldn't help but chuckle with a grin on his face, as Summer blinked past him to deal with the splicers with her. "Well if it can do that, I don't mind lugging this thing around all day! This is hotter than the sun in the middle of July!"

The other revenant however didn't take kindly to his ally being thrown out like that, and would've pounced on Tai were it not for Qrow knocking him out of the way and taking the hit. It roared in fury at Qrow, and raised its drill arm to smash his face in, but Tai smacked it in the midriff of its chest with the ax, making it stumble off him from the sheer force that the ax had on it. It then unleashed its gatling gun at Tai, taking down his shields and forcing him to take a burning hot bullet, causing him to cry out in pain as Qrow took the opportunity to morph again.

Summer meanwhile was making do with her other weapons. She had swapped Thorn out for her broken Boltcaster and gotten a few of her legendaries, deciding to engage in a shootout with the splicers as she blinked past Tai and Qrow, confident they could handle it. She pulled out Party Crasher +1 and rushed down the captain first, taking him by surprise and downing his shields with a couple of shots and she rushed him down, aftly dodging the fire from the other splicers.

She jumped up on his shoulders, grabbing the scorch cannon as she did so, and leap doing a frontflip mid-air, and turning herself around to finish the captain off with his own weapon by blasting him with it, taking out a couple of dregs with him. Knowing it only ever carried ten, she blinked away to one of the SIVA pillars and pulled out Thorn, whittling the many splicers down who dove in and out of cover, getting healed by the servitor all the while.

She looked to her teammates. Tai and Qrow were having a rough time fighting the revenant, it smacking them away with ease whenever they got too close, and gunning them down at a distance, as if it knew close quarter combat would be its end.

She waved to them. "A little help over here?!"

Tai took note of the situation, and looked to Qrow who nodded in response. Tai went off to the left, while Qrow went to the right, thinking that the revenant would be as dumb as the first and chase Qrow in his bird form. They were wrong.

The revenant took advantage of Tai's lack of attention and made to pounce, drill raised to smash him into the ground. The only thing that saved him was a loud squawk from Qrow, causing him to turn around and widen his eyes in panic. Adrenaline rushing sky high in him, he slammed the axe down in a panic, sending a pillar of fire that knocked it back. Qrow flew over to him and changed back, swiftly taking the ax out of his grasp.

"JUST GO! I got him!" Qrow said as he held the ax. Even though he knew this was not his style of play, there wasn't much time. At this point, it was obvious that this thing was as adaptive as the SIVA on it.

Tai nodded, and after entering a combat stance, rushed forth to help Summer by clubbing a few unsuspecting dregs in the face with a couple uppercuts and kicks, who assumed the revenant was taking care of it. This immediately caused their attention to shift to him, of which Summer took advantage of, and blinked on top of the servitor, which turned up to face her at the very last second, before she fired the shotgun at point blank range into its eye. It exploded from the sheer blunt force it received, causing the splicers to lose the only way to mend their wounds. From there, the splicers could do little but fall under the combined might of Huntsman and Guardian, their shields taking all the damage as they ruthlessly slaughtered them.

Qrow meanwhile was trying to avoid the revenant as much as he could. It changed tactics almost instantly when it sensed his apprehension, deciding to change from staying far away, to killing him at any cost. It rushed at him relentlessly, firing its gatling gun all the while as he looped around a SIVA pillar. Qrow was only able to get a couple potshots in by abruptly turning around and slamming the ax, before the revenant caught him off guard by taking a couple steps back, before rushing forth again and taking him by surprise. It grabbed him and held him up in the air, dropping the ax and catching the attention of his teammates.

The revenant growled at him, before it raised its drill, and shoved it into its stomach, blood and SIVA pouring out into the open as it pulled out. The SIVA had detected its new host, and made its way to Qrow. The nanites dug into the flesh and skin on his chest, causing Qrow to cry out in pain as the infection took place.

Before it could go any further, Summer had blinked over to the ax, and with a furious swing, sent the revenant flying back, releasing its grasp on Qrow as it flew with a cry of rage. Qrow fell to the ground crying out in pain, his chest now a blackened red mess of SIVA tendrils and active nanites. He gritted his teeth as he clutched the wound.

Drei then materialized. "I'm going to work on slowing the infection process down, Tai cover me, Summer go fight Radegast!"

The alarm sounded as Summer made way to the revenant to engage it in a battle to the death, a bunch of captains and vandal splicers falling down around it with swords at the ready. The revenant in turn released a roar that accepted the challenge, while the splicers did the same, rushing forth with the revenant.

Summer cut through the lines like Dreadfang through a horde of Taken with the iron axe, the flames proving to be too unbearable for the splicers to handle, as they burnt to a crisp whenever she struck them. But their attempts at attacking her was little more than just being in vain.

The revenant, instead of rushing in with them, had jumped up in the air and readied its SIVA rocket. It fired, Summer getting hit by it and nearly losing her shields from the impact, barely getting out of the nano swarm left behind before her shields then dropped.

She attacked with a sweeping strike, but the revenant merely jumped over it, and landed a heavy uppercut into her, scratching her armor and knocking her back. She did a kip to quickly get back up, slamming the ax down as she did so. The revenant took it head on, not bothering for the fact that its shields dropped from it too. Summer rushed back to it and continued trying to chop it to death, it expertly deflecting each blow with its gatling gun and drill. It was as if the body was giving its all to stay alive.

A war cry from Tai was heard in the background, and she saw Tai jump over, landing a hangover punch into its face, causing it to stumble in surprise and finally give her a chance to finish it off. She jumped and raised the ax high in the air, the revenant feebly trying to gather its bearings and block, but it was fruitless.

She slammed the ax into its head with a sickening crack that resounded throughout the chamber. All grew silent as they watched the second death of the once mighty undead play, Summer hanging on the ax while it stood still.

There was now a more normal look to the revenant's face, even as it was being charred by the fire burning in its skull. A more humane look in its eyes, instead of the once unholy blue hue that once emanated from it. It looked to Summer, unable to do anything but mouth the words 'thank you', before it fell on its knees and collapsed, Summer landed safely on the ground as a result.

She pulled the axe out. Gone was its holy flames, but had an orange hue on the ornaments at the blades of the ax, indicating that it still had some fight in it.

"Young wolf…" Saladin started over the comms. "While I wish we could've tried, you did your best in the face of keeping your team alive… now finish it."

"Qrow is in a stable condition for now, but his lungs got pierced. He won't be able to move quickly." Drei said in the comms. "During the battle, I detected a dormant SIVA cluster. We should go pick it up." Was all he said, before Drei marked it on their HUDs.

Tai went over to Qrow and helped him onto his feet. He stumbled a bit, but was otherwise able to walk.

"Y'know, I don't think it's a good idea to go ahead and fly into the baddies. That kinda defeats the whole purpose of being a _crow_." Tai pointed out with a small grin.

"Oh fuck right off Tai." Qrow muttered out, as he looked over Tai. "You're in no better shape than I am. You've been hit."

"And you're infected now." Tai fired back. "We both kinda got screwed here, but you're worse off."

"Don't get close if you find it too hot." Summer idly jokes, causing Tai to chuckle.

A sudden hiss from behind them catches their attention. The shank then came in through the now open door, playing a slow clap sound effect through its speakers.

"**Well done Rose. You've killed his friends. Teammates of his that we held hostage. How does make you feel, undead-!"**

The sound of Thorn cut the shank off, as it fell to the ground, exploding as it did so. Summer glared at the shank with hatred for what he done. She then decided that Aksis was next on her kill list, as she put Thorn away, heading to the fragment for Drei to collect.

As Drei collected the fragment, the audio message plays.

"I stood at the edge of Lords' Watch, and watched the enemy-" It broke into static for a few seconds, before resuming. "-SIVA curled and thrashed, creating tendrils that lashed out at us. It formed shapes that could grapple us, and angry swarms that buzzed around us before breaking apart to worm their way into every chink of our armor.

Warlords I know how to fight. This is-" The audio file cut abruptly, signifying the end of the message.

The three looked between each other.

"Well," Qrow said, as he made his way to the door. "I suppose this is the part where you run through the place, and we stand outside watching you?"

She nodded. "Back down the hallway you two. If anyone is going down this hallway at the moment, it oughta be me."

"Summer-" Tai made to interject, only to be cut off by a look that clearly stated she wasn't budging from this. As he turned around to leave with Qrow, he tripped over something and fell to the ground with him. The offending object then rolled over to Summer.

Summer raised an eyebrow as she picked it up, finding out it was an old, broken helmet. Drei materialized again and scanned it.

"Jolder's helmet." Drei said, having just detected fragments of her DNA on it. "Saladin would want to see it."

Qrow, and a slightly reluctant Tai made their way down the hallway back outside, as Summer approached the console. Upon being given the all clear from the two, she pressed the self-destruct button on it.

The console made a series of beeps, and flashed with Rasputin's symbol, before the SIVA pillars and tendrils exploded outwards, thrashing wildly and releasing SIVA into the air. The outside was much of the same too, with the hallway now having tendrils and swarms everywhere.

The message at that point didn't need to be said by Drei. They needed to go. They needed to go very fast. And Summer did not waste time, having already blinked away into the hallway. She was surprised to see a few dregs, shanks and vandals trying to block her inevitable escape, but she cut them down as if they were nothing to her, still moving quickly through the room, only stopping at the sound of a familiar roar.

She turned around to see the revenant that fell, and apparently wasn't done with her. It had jumped back up into the hallway, and was chasing her to the door. Not wasting anymore time, she continued chopping through the fallen, and was about to make it before the revenant jumped in front of the exit before her, blocking her path.

She slammed the ax into the ground, and the revenant was hit with a pillar of fire, losing its shields as a result. It in turn slammed the floor beneath it, causing Summer to fly back and waste time getting back to it by blinking. It fired its gatling gun at her, but with a swing so heavy and fast, it almost looked like a small meteor was coming forth into the knee, she caused it to stumble, allowing her the chance to get past it. The doors closed abruptly, leaving the revenant to pound on the door.

Tai released a breath he didn't know he was holding. "As awesome as you've always been Sum."

A rope then descended to where they fell from the hatch. Frederick's voice called out to them. "Summer! Saladin sent me back on short notice, the self-destruct is going to be bigger than we thought! Get you and your team to the rope!"

Summer then grabbed the two in a hurry, blinking across and to the rope. Qrow stumbled onto the ground as Summer leapt up, but Tai quickly hoisted him up. They grabbed the rope, Summer being high up while Tai climbed a little higher for Qrow to take the bottom part of the rope. She tugged on the rope, letting Frederick know it was ok to pull them up.

A loud screeching sound made itself known behind them, and they turned to see that the revenant from earlier was prying the door wide open, a scream of desperation and fear ringing out from it. It shimmied through the hole it had, and ran towards them. It tried to leap, but the platform it was on was too heavy and aged for it, and when it tried, it fell once more into the abyss below. Had it been another time or reinforced, it would've caught them and taken it with them. But it simply had some very bad luck for a day like this to come.

Frederick quickly pulled them up as the earth beneath them rumbled, the three practically flying up as they hung on for their lives. They flew out the hatch, and the explosion finally went off. Frederick only caught a mere glimpse of the sheer size, before it started rushing up to the hatch. He closed it before it could get any further.

Tai and Qrow tried to catch their breath as they heaved themselves off the floor, Summer quickly getting up and helping Qrow up first things first. Frederick went over to Tai.

"On your feet soldier." He then grabbed his hand and pulled him up with little trouble. "You did good today." He said, giving the man a couple pats on the back, though they unintentionally felt like a couple weak, yet strong shoves from the Titan.

Tai grunted in response, as he leaned on Frederick, his strength leaving him. "A little easy please. I got shot in the chest after all, and things are calming down now."

"I can still feel these fuckers moving around." Qrow said, as he clenched his chest with an open fist. "Let's get the hell back home. I think I had enough messing around over here for the time being."

"Aye. I got people to attend to as well." Frederick said with a smile.

The four then began making their way back to the surface to get into Frederick's ship, triumphant from the sheer chaos that was that battle. Nothing could ruin the moment.

"Thanks for the _rope to heaven, _Freddie." Summer said gratefully. "You really brought some _hope to our futures!_"

Well, almost nothing. Actually, wait, Qrow and Frederick were now seriously considering the benefits of opening the hatch again, and jumping in it.

00000

Summer sighs as she rests her head against Tai's shoulder only for him to perk up a bit. Looking to his left he smiled seeing her resting. However he felt a deathly stare from the cockpit. Tai looked up and saw a very… perturbed looking Frederick would be the best way to put it.

"Sheesh it's like the whole world doesn't want you to rebang her." Qrow stated lowly for Tai to hear.

He only sighs

"I think all the men in her life want my head for doing it to her in her first life." Tai stated.

Qrow only laughed

"Oh. Come on Qrow!"

Qrow only laughed harder and even Frederick joined in. All to Tai's expense. Though Qrow coughed a bit due to his injuries. Frederick then accelerated his ship's speed to Felwinter Peak.

Saladin saw Frederick's ship reach the courtyard and the hangar door opened up. Much to Saladin's shock, Qrow had a small SIVA infection, and thus he called for Tyra's help. Tyra and Frederick then immediately put him on a stretcher to her quarters, and requested assistance from the local warlocks to get him better medical attention, while his few small bandages that air sealed his armor, and weakened aura fought back the infection and prevented it from infecting other guardians in the vicinity. Tai was beginning to follow suit, but had put a hand on Summer's shoulder, waking her up as a result.

"We're here now." Tai said, as he clutched his bandaged wound. "As much as I hate to leave you behind, you need to go on ahead with Frederick. I need to go with Qrow, get patched up as well as keep tabs on him. After that, we go home to the girls."

Summer nodded. "Anymore dangerous stuff like this, and yeah, I'd be with Ruby and Yang here. I think it's best if you helped with stuff over at Remnant instead Tai."

Tai showed some hesitance at those words, but otherwise nodded. Summer didn't miss it in the slightest, and sighed.

"Look, I'm certain Saladin has some other trustworthy guardians he can put me up with. And if not, I bet can convince the Vanguard to let Cayde join in, Traveler knows how much he'd like it." She said with an assuring smile. "So I'll be fine here, trust me. Now that I'm here, I could probably catch a few other friends around and get their help."

"Just take care, ok?" Tai said softly. "It doesn't sit right with me knowing I have to sit back and watch just because you can come back from anything."

"Sir, unless you like bleeding your guts onto the floor," One of the arriving medical warlocks said, as she neared the ship's hangar slightly irritated. "I'd very much recommend getting to the emergency room."

Tai gave her a nod and a smile, before turning back to Summer. "I'll see you soon, ok?" He said almost as a promise, before he limped out of the hangar, leaving Summer alone in her thoughts.

She sighed, now alone once more."'Other friends' I said. I don't even know anyone beyond Cayde, good ol' Saladbutt, and Nero, what was I saying?" She then stood up after a moment, getting out of the hangar and making her way to the temple itself.

"You do have his assistant you know." Drei pointed out as he materialized in front of her. "You left quite an impression on him when he first encountered you. I don't think he'd miss the chance to try and prove himself still stronger than you, even without a ghost."

"I don't want to endanger him. Like you said, he doesn't have a ghost, and that makes it harder for him to recover."

"I'm just pointing out, you have more friends than you think." Drei said with a little worry in his voice, as he got in her face. Normally, he'd be brushing it off, but considering everything that has been happening in the last half a dozen or so months, he was starting to worry everything was beginning to crash down on Summer.

After a bit of walking, accepting bounties and checking her postmaster, she made her way into the temple, coming into the Iron Honorhall. She saw that Frederick was a little ahead of her, and stood off to the side.

0000

Frederick's footsteps echoed through the Iron Temple as he approached the altar. Before him, Saladin stood stoic and proud. Summer and her friends off to the side, watching without a word. He stopped at the front of Saladin and dropped to one knee.

"Guardian Frederick." Saladin began, his voice echoing throughout the chamber. "You have demonstrated time and time again your courage, your will, and your resolve. You have stood for the merits and ideals that the Iron Lords have built themselves upon. And you have faced down adversity from without, and within, with unshaking conviction. Therefore here, in the hall of my brothers and sisters, in the hall of the first protectors of humanity, I Lord Saladin, beneath their eternal vigil, hereby recognize you, as an Iron Lord." The last words spoken by Saladin echoed around the chamber, as if being repeated by the statues themselves. "Do you accept this honor?" Frederick raised his head and gazed at Saladin. He slowly got up.

"I thank you for this honor Lord Saladin. And I thank you for your belief that I may be worthy. However, this is a gift I cannot accept." Shock crossed Summer's face as she gave a small gasp. To turn down an offer to become an Iron Lord was unthinkable, it was a title any guardian coveted and would risk life and limb to obtain.

"Might I ask why?" Saladin's face betrayed no emotion, and there was no sign of offense on noticable on him. Frederick's eyes swept to Summer and then back to Saladin.

"The Speaker has made it clear that I would not be accepted no matter what. So long as I exist, I am marked, and therefore a danger to those I know and care about. If I were to accept this title, it would only escalate the conflict." He looked back at Summer again. "And I cannot in good faith, willingly put my friends at risk." He turned back to Saladin. "So once again, I thank you for this honor, but I must decline, for the safety of those I care about." Saladin was silent for a moment.

"You are a good man Frederick." The Iron Lord began. "You have once again proved your will of iron is unshakable." He stepped forward and reached to his side. "Then, if you cannot be recognized in title, know that you are recognized by deeds." Saladin reaches out towards Frederick with a gold medallion, etched with the tree sigil of the Iron Lords. "Take this, as a symbol of my trust and your merit. If there comes a time where you need to call upon the aid of others, show them this medallion, and help will find you."

Frederick looks at the medallion for a moment, before taking a deep breath. "Thank you… Lord Saladin." He manages to say stoically, though his composure told a different story. In truth, he had been overjoyed to know he could be considered an Iron Lord. And while he knows he can't, the iron medallion before him was good enough from the old titan to be seen as proof.

Saladin turns to face Summer. "Step forth guardian. It's time."

Summer looked to Drei, who bobbed in acknowledgement. Without a word, Jolder's helmet materialized in her hands, and she approached Saladin while she held it in her grasp. "Drei found this after my teammates stumbled on it. We got it and left after destroying the replicator."

Saladin walked up and took the helmet out of her hands, gazing at it like a long lost friend as he did so.

"Thank you." The man said with a smile on his face that seemed to tear the years away from him. "She would be honored." He then turned back to the statues, holding the helmet as he did so. "My brothers and sisters… I will see you again. Someday." He then put the helmet aside next to one of the statues, and picked up a sword he had at the ready.

"Approach." Saladin said, not as an order, but as a request. Summer complied, walking up to Saladin.

"There was a time where only Iron Lords carried these blades. This freshly forged may not compare to your Boltcaster, but it was made in your honor. Take your place as an Iron Lady."

"I thank you, Lord Saladin." Summer said, as she took the sword out of his hands. "And I thank you for this title that you bestow upon me."

She then turned around, and placed the tip of the sword on the ground, not helping but standing heroically ahead of her, and enjoying the moment she had before her, while Frederick stood off to the side with a smile. For today marked the return of the Iron Lords.

00000

Night had fallen over Felwinter peak once the celebrations had ended. Outside on the landing pad, Frederick was carrying the last of his supplies onto his jumpship. He was occupied enough that he didn't hear Summer approach. "Do you really have to go?" Frederick jumped a bit before turning around.

"Geez you scared me." The Titan put down the box he was carrying and walked over to Summer. "Unfortunately I have to. You know the situation by now. The Speaker's efforts are just going to escalate, and sooner or later innocent people will get hurt." Summer's face fell at that.

"I wish there was another way." Summer muttered sadly. "So what if the Speaker has an issue, you're more of a Guardian than anyone else I know!" Frederick put his hand on Summer's shoulder.

"I'm happy you think that but that won't change the situation. This is another part of my duty as a Guardian, to protect, and I'm fulfilling that right now." Out of nowhere, Frederick felt himself stumbling backwards as Summer threw herself into him for a hug.

"Take care of yourself ok?" Summer said as she broke off the hug.

"I will I promise." Frederick replied. Then another voice came over the landing pad.

"Frederick."

Frederick looked up to see Lord Saladin behind Summer.

"Lord Saladin-" Frederick began but he was cut off by a wave of Saladin's hand.

"No need for that title anymore, you are my brother now. You stand by me." The Iron Lord approached Frederick, with a rare smile.

"I came to see you off. It's the least I should be able to do." He held out his hand towards Frederick.

"Be brave, Frederick."

"I shall, Saladin." The Titan responded, grasping Saladin's hand. "We'll meet again, I know it."

"Make us proud." The two Titans shook on it as Naomi materialized from the ramp of the ship.

"Sorry to break this up, but we have a long trip to make." Frederick looked towards Naomi and back to Saladin and Summer.

"Looks like it's time." Frderick turned and walked up the ramp of his ship, while Saladin and Summer watched. "Farewell, for now I guess." Frederick waved to the pair on the pad one last time before the ramp closed and the ship took off into the night sky.

"Good luck Iron Lord." Saladin whispered one last time before returning to the Iron Temple.

00000

"So the situation has been concluded." A hologram of the Speaker spoke to Saladin.

"That is correct." Saladin replied. "For now the SIVA threat is contained, and the splicers have all been dealt with. Aksis eludes us still but we'll find him soon."

"And what of that Titan?" The Speaker demanded.

"I have done what I saw fit." Saladin replied. "That is all."

"Lord Saladin…" the Speaker began.

"Spare me." Saladin raised his hand silencing the Speaker. "I have made a choice and I will stand by it. Farewell Speaker." With that he terminated the connection. The Iron Lord exited the Iron Temple and was greeted by his wolves that were waiting for him. He knelt down and patted one on the head. "Come now." Saladin stood, as he put on his helmet.

"Duty beckons."

00000

**Diluation:And now, you see why we cut it off then and there. This whole chapter was roughly 20 pages on Google Docs, meaning that if we posted it with the previous one(10), we would've had a VERY long chapter. I do hope that things were cleared up.**

**But for the obvious elephant in the room now:Why didn't you just double publish?**

**Well, we were still working on Ptabs' notes(now almost finished). What you saw in this chapter was one of the major things in it taking another step, that of which was the breaking of Boltcaster. We'll let you figure where things will go in regards to Summer getting a replacement for it. ;)**

**Now onto the reviews.**

**Yes:idk man this chapter was kinda boring to read. what happened to the awesome storyline with the Shadows of Yor ptabs was doing?**

**Diluation:That is going to be made into its own story. This is Iron Rose, not Shadows Of A Rose. And yes, I did just confirm a sequel. This one is already well in the works with an intro chapter readied at the moment, and is being worked on by Aquilos, who has mainly just edited and worked on that(He wasn't around for Destiny 1 Rise of Iron). It is planned to be released shortly after this one is finished, for the sake of keeping a good storyline.**

**You might be tempted to ask again if we're doing Red War. Let it be known we've already worked up some of our own notes going all the way up to Forsaken, should we get there.**

**Iron Lord gore:*sees the speaker pestering Saladin* oi! Shove off speaker we have said it once and well say it again iron lords are not guardians yes we help the people but we do it separate from ye ya little twat! Why do you think we only go to the tower once a month? Fredrick is one of ours now it his call where he lives but your not gonna do anything here as long as we live you hear? So shove off!**

**Diluation:Why am I pointing out your review in particular? Well you see, Ptabs made a mistake with the Destiny canon, so-**

**Rest Of Nero:SPOILERS DILUATION.**

**Animeak:We're building this dude!**

**Diluation:*Clears throat*. Right. But let it be known, that guardians have no legitimate reason to not be fertile. And that Shaxx has canonically done the naughty with Mara Sov, meaning that not all guardians are gay(though they are a thing).**

**This is not to say that the series of stories ahead will have any sexual content whatsoever, and any story connected to this series containing it will be automatically de-canonized. We're planning on keeping it T-rated at all times. There will be no changing that.**

**Thank you for the read, and I hope you all have a great Friday!**

_**~ In memory of Ptabs0101 ~**_


	14. Temper The Metal, Steel The Flesh

Shaxx and Byf had assembled their classes in the main combat arena. The Warlock had with him a large storage container carrying a large quantity of Orbs of Light. The Cryptarchs had wanted data on how aura and semblances would react to the light motes and while Glynda and Ikora had objected to experimenting on students, Asher had loudly voiced his enthusiasm, and Cayde had probably signed off on the paperwork allowing it without even reading it. Byf was a bit unsure about exposing students to the concentrated light, noting how most novice Guardians tended to lose control for a bit after consuming one. But Shaxx seemed to be either oblivious to the potential harm or simply confident enough that nothing would happen that they couldn't handle. Fireteam Nero's Lux was also there, both as a safety precaution, and as the official overseer of these experimental trials. Also with her were a cohort of Sentinel Titans, tasked with protecting the students should anything go wrong. When all seemed to be present and accouned for, Shaxx stepped forward.

"Students, trainees!" He began, his legendary voice carrying itself across the length of the arena. "Today we've called you here to experiment with the next step of your journey."

He reached down and motioned to the elemental orbs on the ground, as well as the regular orbs. "These are elemental orbs of light. Like its name suggests, it is concentrated light of any particular element and we Guardians usually use it to empower our light abilities or to make it recharge faster. The light blue one, not to be confused with the arc orbs that are blue, are pure light, and are far more effective." A murmur spread across the students at this news, most figuring out what was about to happen.

"The Warlocks of the City have expressed their interest in trying to see if our methods of light can somehow empower you all, people who live constantly charged with the gifts of light." Explained Byf. "The hypothesis is that your auras would be stronger, and likewise your semblances, but whether or not it does, we're here today to find out. For the purposes of experimentation, we'll be trying the regular, then the elementals, and maybe mix the two up with the other."

"So, who would like to go first?" Shaxx asked.

"I would!" A hand shot out from the crowd, and true to her nature, Yang Xiao Long strolled up to the Crucible master. Shaxx chuckled slightly under his helmet.

"Well in that case, have at you!" The Titan handed a regular and solar orb of light to the young huntress and him and Byf both backed up.

"Whenever you're ready, miss." Byf called out. Lux looked down at her datapad ready to take notes on anything that happened. At the same time, the Titans tensed up, waiting for any sign of trouble.

Yang closed her eyes and began to reach out with her aura, trying to slowly absorb in the Light within, feeling its energy slowly coursing through her. Soon, her aura was flaring outwards, stronger and brighter than usual, flowing around her like a torrent while bathing everything nearby with a golden light. When the last of the orbs was absorbed into her, Yang's eyes snapped open, glowing red. Byf called out to her.

"How are you feeling?"

Yang didn't respond. Instead she clenched her fists and gave a loud battlecry, her semblance activating to its fullest extent. Her blonde hair glowed bright as it rose into the air above her head like wildfire while it looked like actual flames started swirling around her.

"Miss Xiao Long are you-" Shaxx didn't get to finish that semblance before a supercharged Yang spun around towards him.

"Quick someone punch me right now!" Yang demanded, "I wanna see what will happen."

"Uhhh…" Byf started before looking at Shaxx, then to Lux who shrugged.

"The info we have so far, is that most semblances in huntresses and huntsmen are usually defensive mechanisms, with a few exceptions being notable in more aggressive aura users, like Hazel Rainart, who we're still trying to hunt down and capture. I'm assuming Yang is telling you to activate hers."

"Very well Miss Xiao Long." Shaxx declared as he stepped up to Yang, stretching his right arm a bit as he did. "But I hope you don't regret this." Yang just grinned and got into a ready stance. Shaxx got into a boxer's stance, winding his arm back.

"Ready?" He asked one more time.

"Hit me big boy." Yang replied.

Shaxx stepped forward, his foot digging into the floor before throwing the mother of all right hooks at Yang's head. When it looked like the Crucible Master's fist was about to send Yang's head flying off her shoulders, there was a sudden flash of light, and the next thing everyone knew was Shaxx flying backwards into one of the arena walls, leaving a sizable crater where he impacted. The Titan seemed to be stuck in, before he slid off the wall and collapsed onto the ground.

"Shaxx!" Byf called out as he ran over. Shaxx was on his face, unmoving. Byf was about to reach out and check the Crucible Master for a pulse before Shaxx suddenly sprang up onto his feet.

"That was amazing!" Shaxx laughed as he walked back over to Yang. Yang's semblance had run its course, her appearance changing back to normal. Shaxx gave her a swift slap on the back. "I haven't been thrown like that in ages!"

Yang grinned in response, hair no longer on fire and eyes returned to normal. "Correction:That was amazyang!"

Almost immediately, Byf facepalmed while Shaxx stood still, muttering under his breath to his ghost. "Ghost, remind me to pay a visit to Patch when we're done."

As Yang went back to her seat, Shaxx once more looked over the students. "Alright, so, who's next?"

Almost instantly, Ruby raised her hand up, excited to see what new heights her semblance could reach. She jumped down into the arena floor with a skip in her step, and Shaxx handed her a regular orb of light. He'd hope that perhaps she'd unknowingly copy her mother's style, her semblance allowing her to teleport instead.

What he didn't expect, was a torrent of petals to suddenly start swirling around her, almost concealing her completely. A light blue glow surrounded Ruby, as the petals became faster and faster.

Then she moved.

The titans had no time to react, as everyone was simultaneously pulled out of their seats from the sound barrier being broken, everyone flying off in the direction Ruby moved towards. Shaxx was the only one able to barely stand his ground, while Byf and Lux were flung towards the wall, Lux able to keep the data pad safe as they impacted, promptly needing a resurrection from their ghosts after the rose petals finally settled.

When everyone got their bearings, they went to look in the direction of where Ruby went. A hole was in the arena walls, leading straight to the outside with dirt kicked up into the air, the grass torn up. Unseen through the dust, Ruby was pulling herself up from a cliffside using Crescent Rose, barely managing to avoid falling off.

"WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS THAT?!" Shaxx shouted with glee. "I hadn't seen somebody move that fast since Ikora!"

"On the contrary," Byf pointed out, coughing a bit as he inhaled a bit of dust. "Those who've learned how to blink move at the speed of light for about 16 nano-seconds. It may seem like a teleport, but if that was the case we wouldn't leave a streak behind."

"Still! The amount of distance traveled in basically the same time compared to a mere blink? Madness!" Shaxx shouted out jovially.

"Sorry!" Ruby called out from where she was. "I'll be back to watch you guys in a bit!"

"Tch. Big dolt." Weiss let out, as she then approached Shaxx. "I'd like it if I could go next, if not any trouble?"

"Most certainly Miss Schnee!" Shaxx responded almost immediately. "In fact, the warlocks wanted to see what the Schnee family could do, so we were considering on making you next. Let them see your power!" Shaxx stated whilst pumping his fist in the air.

"With pleasure." Weiss stated with a smirk, as Byf handed her a few regular orbs of light.

"We've been told that a certain variant of your glyphs involving lightning dust allow you to slow down, or speed up the actions of others Miss Schnee." Byf curtly said. "We would very much like to see that."

"You'll need to let me summon first." She spoke while she stabbed the sword into the ground, a massive glyph about the size of the arena floor opening up beneath her. "I believe the effects of that would be easier to see on others, or one of my summons."

Upon the mention of summons, the students backed up a bit, and those on the floor including Shaxx, Byf, and Lux retreated to the stands, figuring that Weiss was going to create a massive summon. For an unnervingly long while, Weiss remained in position, until finally, she pulled her sword from the ground, looking around her once more and seeing… nothing.

An uncomfortable silence fell the room. "Miss Schnee, where is the summon?"

"I-" Weiss began the stutter, cheeks flushing up in embarassment. "I-I don't-"

Then the ground shook.

Suddenly, the roof of the arena was ripped off, revealing a massive Arma Gigas that was looking down upon everyone. Titans instinctively popped their wards while everyone else panicked, some shooting at the Arma Gigas, while others attempted to escape. Weiss looked upon her summon with shock, unable to process how she had even made it. All the while, the Arma Gigas just stood there, watching everyone with a cold stare, paying little attention to the attacks being thrown at its face.

"Miss Schnee!" Byf called out from where he was, attempting to take it down as well and snapping Weiss out of her stupor. "I don't suppose you can de-summon that thing for something smaller?!"

"NO!" Shaxx called out, Hammer of Sol at the ready as he climbed the arena. "Let me fight that!"

Weiss then shook her head, narrowing her eyes. "PUT THAT ROOF BACK!" She ordered the Arma Gigas to do so.

And it obliged.

The guardians in the room stopped firing as they watched the roof get put back on, the students falling silent as Shaxx jumped back down to the arena floor.

The ground shook again.

They looked to the hole Ruby made. The Arma Gigas was now looking through it in silence, it's helmet covering up whatever view they had of the outside world.

Silence befell the class once more, watching the Arma Gigas with a notable amount of fear.

"Students… stay here." Shaxx ordered with an over the top grave tone. "That beast is waiting for us to leave so it can pick us off one by one. I will-"

"Shaxx, for the love of god, can you please keep it under control?!" Lux bemoaned the titan's newfound bloodlust for battle.

"I need to stretch my legs!" Shaxx said, pointing at the Arma Gigas with his Hammer of Sol. "Look at this Lux, Byf! It's huge! I NEED TO PUNCH IT!"

Byf sighed, and got next to Shaxx to whisper to him. "Shaxx please you're on duty-" Before he had even finished that sentence, Shaxx had sprinted out through the hole in the wall, screaming for honor and blood the entire time.

"Oh my god…" Was all Byf said, as Lux facepalmed. "Well ok I guess he's done for the day. Uhhh for the sake of everyone's safety, and so more property damage doesn't happen, let's move this class outside."

The students were ushered out to an open outdoor courtyard with Shaxx on standby, fighting the Arma Gigas in the background. It was from there, the enhancements were continuing on becoming more tame, yet powerful in their own regard.

Blake was able to create multiple clones of herself that seemed to only respond decently to her commands, staying perfectly still or running into walls otherwise, able to do minor tasks like taking an item or touching a person, but are unable to comprehend violent tasks. She had almost passed out from strain when she tried to create more than five. Her clones remained though and caught her, and once they were hit with an attack meant to maim or kill, they simply vanished like usual. Further testing proved that the clones were capable of kamikaze attacks via handheld grenades.

Lie Ren was able to turn himself nearly invisible like the very hunters, appearing only as a slight distortion in the air. Although that extended to almost everyone else within a ten meter radius, his aura dropped to half from the strain of keeping everyone invisible.

Jaune had opted out of joining in, having no interest in suddenly discovering his semblance and let it go rampant all at once, much to the dismay of the two warlocks who mainly asked to see if light could forcefully awaken a semblance.

Pyrrha's attempt at her enhanced polarity control caused her to pull everything metal nearby towards her all at once, resulting in a very awkward situation where Byf had to try to pull several of the assembled Titans off of her, along with multiple other pieces of weaponry, and gear.

Sun was able to create the clones with just a thought by using a solar elemental orb and a regular orb, not needing to directly manipulate them anymore. It still drained his aura though.

Coco Adel was found to be doing seven times more damage with her semblance Hype, as well as making the minigun even louder when firing. Her aura also reached outwards, affecting those next to her with a slight empowerment aura.

Fox found himself able to mentally communicate with the entire room… as well as read the thoughts of those nearby to him. He was given amnesiacs due to having been in the proximity of Lord Shaxx.

Velvet found herself able to swap up to three weapons on a moment's notice now, with none of them going out in a defined amount of hits. Though random weapons would be replaced if she tried to go past three.

When Yatshuhashi was called up, the swordsman walked up to the warlocks and whispered something to them in private. Whatever he said made the Guardians only nod in understanding, before he returned to where he was.

Once that was sorted that Nora stepped up and this is where the situation saw itself go completely out of control. As soon as she had absorbed the arc elemental and regular orb, Nora's eyes started to glow as arcs of electricity started issuing from herself. Then suddenly torrents of electricity exploded from her form as she shot up into the air in a blue streak, nearly frying a flock of birds, and catching Lord Shaxx's attention, as well as the Arma Gigas. As she shot back down, the students all scrambled behind the Sentinels as they threw up their wards.

At the same time, Shaxx leapt into the air, activating a Sentinel Shield. The Arma Gigas sensed that its mistress was in danger, and went to assist Shaxx in blocking the attack, its armor taking the brunt of the damage first, losing its arm completely as a result from the massive shock blow given to it. Shaxx's shield then collided with Nora, sending them crashing into the ground.

The force of their landing released an explosion not unlike that of a bomb going off. When the dust cleared, there was a twenty meter wide crater where they had landed. When the warlocks and rushed over to check on them, Nora seemed relatively unhurt. The Crucible Master on the other hand, took the full brunt of Nora's power. Were it not for the Shield he had created to protect himself, he probably would have needed a resurrection then and there. However when he pulled himself out of the ground, he gave a hearty laugh and slapped Nora on the back, even as his very bones made audible cracking sounds, his ghost working on healing his insides.

"By the Light, that was incredible! I haven't felt a blow that bad since my days with Lord Saladin. You got the heart of a true Titan in you lassy!" While the two laughed in the stands Byf simply cleared his throat and turned to the students.

"Well I think I have enough data for today. You're all-"

The Arma Gigas stabbed the sword mere inches away from where Shaxx and Nora were, barely missing the two. Everyone then looked up with the sudden reminder of what was still standing there… and was very pissed.

"Ah yes, don't wanna forget about you!" Shaxx chuckled, as he reached for the hilt of his sword, intending to finish this battle the way it should end.

When Shaxx sent Summer to get the Boltcaster developed, he sent her and the rest of fireteam Nero to fight Alak Hul and his three wardens, as a way to set the weapon to full power. What Summer Rose didn't know however, was that he had told the other teammates of Nero to hold onto two other copies he duplicated off his original work, that of which was Void Edge and Solar Edge. He kept it a secret, as he knew Summer was all about the hoarding of weapons. The improved version of Void Edge he called Darkdrinker was hidden away in his vault, waiting for someone worthy of its blade.

The improved Solar Edge, Razelighter… was right in his very hands.

The serrated sword lit up in flames as Shaxx stared down his foe, the sword in his right hand as he leapt up into the air, barreling into the sky and causing the Arma Gigas to use a glyph and teleport back a dozen yards away. Shaking his head again, Byf turned back to address the students.

"Ok I'll see you guys tomorrow at lecture, and don't worry about Shaxx, he'll be at this a while. Just move along now." The warlock shooed off the students while muttering something about a meathead under his breath.

00000

Cayde looked at his scroll as the message notification popped up.. He raised an eyebrow and wondered what the hell is so important right now to interrupt his mid-afternoon break, while Barloc shuffled some paperwork nearby. His robotic eyes widen as a smile creases his mechanical face. The Ark portal system near Mercury was back online. Which meant that trade between the Last City and Remnant is now much easier. Though with all of the available Warlocks, he had to wonder who managed to get it up and Running.

He then got another message sent to his scroll as well as photos, and another message after that. All were marked as "Omega Priority." Sighing he looks between his paperwork and his scroll, wondering what messages were so important. But then another message came in as well as a report attached to it. With this his brow furrowed.

_Report_

_Suj: White Fang Elite Leader Atriox_

_Message: Some Whitefang Remnants are gathering near the Borders of Vale, Requesting immediate action. _

He then looked at the the other messages and report again.

_Report_

_Delta 4 Orbital patrol _

_Suj: Unknown ship_

_An unidentified ship has crossed into our space. It looked human in nature but was too quick before it disappeared. Requesting reinforcements at Vex Ark Portal gate and for orbital defenses._

Then finally the last one which made him narrow his eyes in frustration.

_Report_

_Suj: Dark Grim, Mistral _

_New dangerous grimm variants have been detected in Mistral. Send reinforcements. Mistral Guardians and Huntsman stretched too thin. Losing Huntsman by the day. _

Cayde has been wary of the recent spike in Huntsmen disappearances, and the Guardians there are not enough to solve the problem. But then smirks as he looks at his last message.

"Well now. Looks like I got the reinforcements I need. Hey Barloc, tell Daisy that she's needed." Cayde said.

"Noted, but we have more important matters." Barloc said, as he took a transcript he received from Summer and handed it off to Cayde.

Cayde looked at the transcript, a sigh of relief and a wince of sympathy for the two letting through as he reads. "Well, that was unexpected. Guardians being giant SIVA hulking abominations? No wonder why that went so bad."

"Which is why we need to do something about this." Barloc said, as he went to a monitor and scrolled through one of the browsers on it.

Cayde did his most charming exo grin. "You know, I think it'd be great if-"

"No."

"Oh come on!" Cayde almost yelled in frustration, throwing his arms up into the air. "Why can't I join the big fights?!"

"Because your presence is needed here. While the guardians here may not respect you, Remnant's people consider you a powerful leader, even with the few mishaps that slipped through before I was sent here." Barloc said, as he finally found the team he was looking for.

"Then what the heck is Summer going to do?" Cayde challenged. "Fight all the baddies on her own, with that trying to infect her?!"

Barloc merely motioned for Cayde to come look at what he was looking at in response.

With an annoyed grunt, Cayde walked up to the monitor, spotting team JNPR on it.

"There," He said, poking Pyrrha's face on the monitor. "She'll suit for a replacement that is worthy of a guardian's level, and she'll have more backup to boot. While there is no doubt she may not be usable for strikes… her polarity semblance is what we need."

"Polaratae what? Is that telekinesis or something?" Cayde asked, causing Barloc to look at him in wordless shock.

Barloc had finally had enough.

Barloc smashed Cayde's head in with a chair, causing him to fall back with a pained yelp, as Barloc flipped on him.

"HOW CAN YOU HUNTERS BE, SO, DUMB!?" Barloc shouted out the last three words, accentuating it with each smack from the chair as he continued on relentlessly. "IT IS A BASIC TERM FOR MAGNETISM!" At that moment, unbeknownst to the currently very angry warlock and otherwise occupied hunter, was that a certain red headed student had peeked into the room, responding to a summons she got.

"Ow, stop it! Hey hey, watch the horn- OW!" Cayde cried out from under the warlock's merciless assault.

Sundance sighed, as she watched her guardian get mercilessly beaten up by the ex-guardian again. "Preparing for resurrection…"

Pyrrha decided to let them have a few moments and leave them for a half hour. She'd seen enough for now.

00000

After class, team RWBY walked back to their dorm room. Though something was dormant on Ruby's mind. She may have been able to conceal it for a while, but Yang was catching on it. Blake and Weiss decided to go to the Cafeteria for Yang to have a sister to sister talk as the half sisters walked back to the dorm.

"Everything ok Rubes?"

"Huh? Oh everything's fine."

"You sure?"

"Oh yeah, why do you ask?"

"Well, I just noticed ever since mom left you've been in an up and down mood. Are you...on your… you know?"

"What?! NO!"

"Ok ok, jeez when did you become grouchy?"

"Look- it's just… remember when we first met mom? Back at that building?"

"You still worried about that incident still?"

"I've still have been getting nightmares over it. Her either shouting at me to kill her or me accidentally killing her, her ghost reviving her and killing me in retaliation… I'm thinking. Why is she so forgiving after that?"

"Maybe because after finally remembering who you are. She motherly already forgave you. She wants to be back in our lives again after finding out about her past. There's no way shed abandoned us Rubs. Remember when she makes a promise?" Yang smiled holding her sister in a warm embrace.

"She... keeps it."

"What am I looking at here?"

Stated a voice who just ruined their bonding moment, cause the two to realize they forgot to go into their room to speak in private.

"Who are you?" Yang said mildly annoyed.

The man had white hair some sort if tribe like markings on his Awoken face.

"I am Asher Mir! One of the greatest Warlocks that helped save your planet obviously. I was the one who figured out how to use the portal on Earth, which in turn helped bring the incompetent Guardians here. Like that hero of Menagerie, Lord Shaxx, and many others!"

"Stroking your ego much Asher?"

A german sounding man said as he and four other guardians reared the corner.

"This is nothing to concern yourself with Rictoffen! Now, as I was saying, I have come here to start the research of semblances, so that you can be… slightly less incompetent." Asher said, before he cleared his throat. "What are your names for future reference?"

"Ruby Rose," Ruby responded immediately. "This is my sister Yang Xiao Long."

"What? There's no way guardians should be able to have kids. That's-" Asher then finally notices Ruby's eyes. "No. No that's impossible. Impossible. No no no no no… IMPOSSIBLE!"

"What are you talking about Asher? Everybody knows that it's entirely possible! Go back to your Vex technology, and stop setting your Vex arm to frig mode!"

Their conversation now interrupted entirely by the odd guardians who went and caused a ruckus, the sisters went back to their dorm to play some video games while they waited out the noise.

00000

Blake and Weiss were sitting at the dining hall having lunch. They were both eating in relative silence before a commotion started nearby. The two girls turned to see Daisy eating alone one table down. Except she seemed to be surrounded by a group of boys who seemed to all be vying for her attention. On top of that, there seemed to be another group of people gathering around the boys to get rid of them. Meanwhile Daisy had her hand on her sidearm's holster and seemed to be showing great restraint in not just whipping it out and shooting everyone around her. Blake started to get up to do something about it, but the intercom came on just as she was reaching for gambol shroud.

"_Could Ms Daisy come to Cayde's office please? Would Miss, Daisy Mendez please head to Cayde's office please. Thank you."_

With a sigh of relief Daisy got up and walked out of the cafeteria. The crowd around her dispersing.

"What do you think Cayde needs her for?" Weiss asked as Blake sat back down.

"Who knows? Probably some top secret Guardian stuff, as usual." Blake replied.

"Hm, true." Weiss said, taking a bit out of her salad and eating it, before continuing. "Well today's classes were eventful. Though that one Awoken warlock I saw walking around looked odd. Whatever happened to him, I can't imagine..." Weiss replied.

"From what I heard, warlocks are generally crazy." Blake said with a shrug, as the two went back to their meal.

0000

**Animeak116: Ok guys on to the reviews**

**Doomforzombies16: Looks around for a curtain Warlock, doesn't see him, Do you plan on using the including or referencing the Drifter? **

**Animeak116:Ah yes but were not at Forsaken at all yet. **

**Diluation:More accurately Red War, as that's when Gambit starts running after Drifter escapes from whatever planet or moon he was on.**

**Guest:Why did you break storm caster?! What about the Flaming Axe, was it left behind?!**

**Diluation:We said why last chapter, and I see no reason in repeating it. The Flaming Axe however, yes it was left behind, no it doesn't really matter. Saladin apparently has a ton of those things with how many axes you get from the extermination missions in the Plaguelands.**

**ahsoei:****Looking forward for more. It might be interesting to have some awkward romcom between Roses and the rest.**

**Diluation:As much as Ptabs' family would appreciate the attempt at bringing him back to life, please stop trying to get a rise out of him. Let his soul rest in peace.**

**On a more serious note though, if you know Ptabs, you know how we'd need to do to honor his writing style. Remember what he did with Summer and Ruby's reunion in Remnant of a Rose? ...Wanna see us do it again?**


	15. Reinforcements

Tai sat on the bed as Qrow still lying down. A nice amount of his chest had been ripped off, covered by bandages, but thankfully his heart was intact. The warlocks said that anymore nanites, and he'd need to go under yearly surgery for heart and lung transplants, as the infection would've changed his internal systems. His wounds were left unhealed however, as the warlocks were in the process of finding any leftover nanites that may be hiding within him.

For now though, despite some of their concerns, the warlocks allowed the two huntsman to have visitors.

"Yeah like that was nothing but flashy." Qrow said

Summer sighs "Sorry guys. He's just a bit excited with seeing me be a Ironlady and you guys helping me."

"What about Fred?" Tai asked

It only seemed to have soured her mood.

"He, turned down the title." she said with a pause in between.

The two men as when they got to know Frederick for the short time they did he was a really cool guy to hang with maybe get a drink or two.

Not alcohol though, as much as she wanted to try it to see what it was like.

"Wait why?"

"Like I said before. The Speaker doesn't really like Freddie or his friends"

"Yep. I totally called it back there." Qrow stated

"And how would you know that Qrow?" Tai asked

"I may have…..done the nasty with Willow."

"Was this before or…"

"After."

Summer crossed her arms. "You know, you don't have to be subtle. Lux taught me, and I didn't say that pun because I thought it was funny."

"Dude, what the fuck?! I thought you were doing the vow too!" Tai shouted.

"For the love of gods Summer don't make sex puns..."

"No." Summer said with a smug smile. "And what vow?"

They looked to each other at the realization of what Tai just said.

"We made a vow that since you were gone, we weren't going to touch anyone else until both Ruby and Yang had hit 18." Qrow admitted with shame in his voice. "I… didn't do such a good job at that." He then waited for Summer's reaction.

"Well that's a bad vow to have." Summer said casually. "Why in the world would either of you do that?"

"Remember when my sister left and you married Tai?"

"You expect me to honestly remember that?"

"Oh, right, the whole guardian thing…" Qrow said, putting his right hand on his forehead. "I honestly forgot that for a while. That, or its the meds."

"Basically Tai wouldn't marry anyone else and end up giving Ruby and Yang more siblings like how the situation happened a long time ago." Qrow explained. "I'm just gonna keep it a secret anyway to those two. I'd rather them be kept under the understanding that Tai still tried to find others."

"So they don't know?"

Tai nodded. "They don't."

Suddenly, Qrow cough a bit, and the two saw a few nanites escape his mouth and out into the open, just floating in the air without a directive. Summer frowned at this, and she aimed her hand at the nanites, it glowing with solar flames before a small wave of it lashed out at the nanites, destroying them and dissipating before it touch Qrow.

"The warlocks have taken note of what Qrow just did." Drei said. "We're to leave now due to the sudden expulsion of SIVA from him.

Before they could even move, another person walked in it was a scarlet haired teenager.

"Sorry, is this where Summer Rose is?" Pyrrha asked as she opened the door. "This tower is a multilevel maze…"

Summer turned and almost instantly recognized her. "Oh, the Mistral champion. What are you doing here?"

"I was told I was going to be on missions with you Mrs. Rose. Something about the Plaguelands?"

Summer sighed at that.

"Well, there ain't no rest for the wicked. Still, huntress in training nonetheless?" Summer couldn't help but say with a raised brow. "Wouldn't that just be-"

Pyrrha then held her right arm out with a strange black glow on her palm. Suddenly, Summer felt Young Wolf's Howl get lifted off her back, and she turned to look at the weapon floating in the air.

"My semblance is polarity." Pyrrha began to explain, as the warlocks came in to usher them out. "From what I was told, this made me valid enough to be assigned in the absence of Qrow and Tai to fight SIVA. The other is still being selected, if Tai doesn't change his mind on heading back home to keep your family up."

"Not changing my mind on that." Tai said with a head shake. "They already lost you once, they don't need another gone for good."

"Family man to the end I see." Qrow said with a bit of a cough.

A few seconds later, the warlocks then forced them out of the room.

00000

Back at the present, Summer took out some old legendary armor she had of the Titan variety, since she normally never needed to have titan armor. She pulled out the armor and handed it to Pyrrha, who then was sent to a bathroom to change. As she waited, she heard a voice that was familiar.

"Good evening Summer Rose."

She turned to face the speaker, a bit shocked at his sudden and silent arrival. She never even heard the knob move. "Barloc? I thought you wanted to stray from the action?"

"A guardian's job is never over. Cayde and I came to the agreement that I had to come anyhow, he thought I needed to stretch my legs instead of taking all his work, as insane as it is to trust him with all that. Keeping an eye on you when he can't sounded like a good use of time." Barloc said as he idly hefted Shadow Price, not minding the weight of Truth on his back. He had Havoc Pigeon holstered on the left of his hip. "Just remember to share Drei with me. I'm sure you know why."

"Of course." Summer said with a nod, as she looked him over, noticing the lack of bags under his energetic eyes. "You seemed to have come prepared."

"I'm assuming you're noting my physical condition, and not fawning over my guns instead?" Barloc said with a droll.

"Kind of." She said, as her eyes shifted to Truth. She walks up to Barloc, caressing Truth. "Shhh, don't worry… you'll have the chance to fight alongside your brother at least."

All Barloc could muster at that was a face mixed between disgust and amusement. "Please keep your obsession down a bit, Summer."

"Oh please," She said with a grin. "You can't say you aren't _over the moon _with the brother rockets too."

"I am a man of knowledge." Barloc internally considered alleviating some of the crimes guardians have done towards Taiyang for making Summer have a passion for puns. He then looked to the bathroom. "I assume Pyrrha is adjusting well? Cayde and I went through the trouble of recruiting her to your team, after Lux Syphid had reported her uncanny ability to attract and manipulate metals. Her team didn't like the idea of being separated, as did yours at a time like this, but we had reassured them that they wouldn't see a teammate stricken from their roster with some help from Saladin. As such, we had also gathered some titan armor for the occasion, as to-"

A knock on the door caught their attention. Barloc turned around to look at the door, before looking back at her. "Perhaps it'd be best to show you what we had in store now."

A set of red and gold Mangonel Type 1 armor on a dolly had revealed itself when he opened the door, left behind by a frame who had delivered it. Barloc carried the armor in using the dolly, and set it down a couple feet away from the bathroom door, knocking on it in assumption Pyrrha was there. "Vanguard resources have been delivered to you Pyrrha. I would suggest making use of them."

"Eh?" A moment of pause then came from the other side, before some fumbling around was heard. A fully clothed Pyrrha had then opened the door to see the new armor before her, old Commando Type 0 armor being visible behind her. "Oh! Was this made for me?"

"To your exact specifications, and fighting style. We gathered all this from the data received in regards to your combat abilities, as well as the measurements we acquired from you to give you the latest in the Vanguard Armory." When Pyrrha showed some concern, Barloc laughed. "Do not fret, all we did was scan you when we sent you through the portal. That was enough for the fabricators. Now, would you need any assistance getting it on, since Summer Rose isn't willing to help?"

"That's kind of rude, don't you think Barloc The Warlock?" Summer said with crossed arms, taking a little jab at his name while Pyrrha blushed a bit from the offer.

"Says the one who didn't even try to help her." Barloc said with a tint of annoyance at the nickname, as he peered over Pyrrha's shoulders. "Commando Type 0 armor? I get that you were trying to at least help in that regard, but not only is that armor outdated, it is also the more complex one out of the sets, incomplete even. That one needed two people to put it on a Titan with the various straps and ties to the body."

"And of this armor?" Pyrrha inquired.

"This one you can put on yourself with some straps, but is still complex in terms of reaching certain areas to keep the plasteel plating on you." Barloc stated as a matter of fact as he looked back to her. "You can put it on yourself, but it would be wise for one to show you how to do it as to spare time."

Pyrrha's apprehension was still very much there.

Barloc gave a professional smile. "I promise, I won't make you comfortable. Guardian showers tend to be mixed and open, and almost never was there a case where somebody touched another, most of which were accidents."

"Wait, there are showers?" Summer said as she turned to face Barloc. "I thought all guardians had none."

"For the purposes of relaxation and moping," Barloc quickly muttered the last part as he explained. "The showers are generally public to guardians above the service age of 12-18, depending on how well they've served humanity. This doesn't mean that guardians sit in them with their armor on however, and thus their fireteams would go out of their way to help themselves."

Barloc then blinked. "I just realized something, give me a sec." He said, as he then quickly left the room, leaving the two to stare on in confusion. After a few minutes passed by, Summer's scroll went off, and she took it out to look at her new messages.

91\. You are forbidden from putting baby oil in the shower tiles and handles.

92\. Leaving bars of soap on the shower floor will result in you scrubbing the floors with them until guardians can see their own face on the tiles.

93\. Purposely sabotaging armor so that it falls off shortly after re-equipping it, will give you a week of cleanup duty in the showers.

94\. Do not make it rain sun fire from the showers. We are not certain if this is possible, but we do not want to find out.

Summer huffed in frustration. "Oh come on, I didn't even do anything yet!"

"It's best to prepare early with you, considering your reputation." Barloc reasoned, as he walked back in. "Now, would you like the assistance Pyrrha?"

"...Should I be concerned about her reputation?" Pyrrha couldn't help but question, staring at Summer.

"No. Now let's get a move on."

00000

After assisting Pyrrha into her gear, the three made to part for the Tower Plaza, Drei using a small, in Summer's terms, amount of her own currency consisting of one million glimmer and 400 legendary marks from her own vault, to purchase a hub ship fit for six guardians only. All that was left for them was to walk, during which they decided to continue chatting.

"So Summer, how's the Plaguelands? I'd assume they'd be of little trouble?" Barloc asked as they walked, still walking around with Shadow Price in his hands.

"Didn't really get to be there yet. I only paid a visit to Lord's Watch, Giant's Rock, and Archon's Keep." She then pulled out the Dormant SIVA cluster from her pockets. "I found this little souvenir though."

Barloc eyed it critically. "Judging from how menacing and metallic it looks, it must be SIVA?" He then narrowed his eyes and looked at her. "I'd hate to ask, but what are you planning with that?"

"I dunno." She said with a shrug. "It seems like the Calcified Fragments I had found on the Dreadnaught. I'm betting there's a bunch more out there or something of them. Future War or one of those other headcases might be interested in them."

He raised an eyebrow at that.

Summer coughed. "Right, forgot you weren't here during that time. Basically just a treasure hunt for a super cool weapon, like that gun that makes guns maybe!"

"A gun that makes guns?" Pyrrha frowned. "That is… concerning."

"That is a slice of paradise..." Barloc couldn't help but drool a bit at the thought of infinite guns. He then slurped the drool back in and shook his head. "You know what punk? Keep the SIVA souvenir thingy. I wanna see you come back from the Plaguelands with so many guns, humanity won't be without a weapon."

"Join the new age old man…" Summer said, before busting out into giggles.

"I am not old. I'm just right minded!" He jokingly states with her, before chuckling with a pleased sigh. "Y'know, sometimes you're just bearable enough to be near."

"Well, that's why I'm a _momma bear!_"

"...Sometimes."

"Hey."

The three were stopped by a small group of guardians who were standing in the way of the elevator, a few warlocks, titans, and a couple hunters. They had their arms folded, and while they did have helmets on, Summer and Pyrrha could feel that their gazes were on Barloc. He noticed it as well.

"Trouble gentlemen?" Barloc said, as he idly put Shadow Price into Pyrrha's palms, mimicking their stances.

"Oh nothing." A warlock spoke. "Just wondering where you and Summer are going."

"After all it's rare to see Nero away from her." A titan stated.

"You'll have to excuse us if we can't help but inquire about the newbies." A hunter coolly said.

None of the group budged. The three didn't either.

"Well, it is nice to show concern for her." Barloc said, as he then leaned forward. "Vanguard business. On your way."

A titan stepped forth, clad in blue and white Mycenae armor. "If we could just... speak to you for a moment in private?" As he finished, he clenched his fist, knuckles cracked at the mere action, almost unintentionally.

"Guys, we have missions in the Plaguelands to do." Summer said, as she went to reach for Thorn. "We-"

"Why not here?" Barloc said, as he assumed a combat stance. "I could use the practice."

A moment of silence fell between the two groups as the unspoken challenge was accepted in public view. The other group went to talk between each other, while Barloc waited patiently.

He turned to look at Summer, who had a look of concern on her face, as if asking him to just leave it alone. It only hardened his resolve.

The group had finished talking, and the titan with the Mycenae armor stepped forth once more. "Fine then. Lets have words little light."

"Funny you mention that." Was all Barloc said, as the titan then rushed forth.

The titan went in for an overhand punch, but Barloc merely stepped to the side and returned with an uppercut to the offending hand's thumb and wrist, hitting a few pressure points as a result, and causing the titan to grunt in pain with the warlocks surprised.

The fight didn't stop there though, as the titan attempted to knee Barloc in the chest, but he only stepped on the knee and countered in turn with a knee to the titan's chin, causing him to stumble back as Barloc then followed up with a frontflip drop kick into his head, leaping off the titan and forcing him to roll backwards.

The titan quickly got up, and slammed his fists together. "You're good. I'll give you that."

"Look at what you're fighting," Barloc said with a shrug, as this time he rushed forth. "Chubby."

He continued to attack the pressure points on various parts of the titan's armored body, causing him to grit his teeth in pain as he continued to try and land a hit on him, fists leaving small craters in the ground, Barloc aftly dodging each one with the grace of a hunter.

It was not until 12 seconds in, that the titan started to use his light. Fists crackling blue swung wildly in the air trying to hit its target in some manner, causing small pulses of arc energy on the ground or simply being faster than a normal punch. It did not phase him in the slightest, even as Summer's and Pyrrha's concerns were voiced at the sight. The titan struggled to even damage the warlock, but in just 16 more seconds he fell, no longer able to fight.

"And that's why Kyusho Jitsu should be part of the general training regimen. Do you concede?" Barloc asked, relaxing at the sight of the defeated titan.

The titan merely gritted his teeth. "You're up next, Hes-"

"Don't bother." Barloc said coldly, pulling out a hologram of Cayde that was currently paused. "I've amused myself enough with this tomfoolery."

He then played the message, and watched the group go rigid.

"Alright guys, I know this is a bit last minute, but the guy you see holding this hologram?" Cayde's hologram spoke with total seriousness to his tone. "I trust him. And if you guys don't listen to me, and still cause them any trouble, I don't care who you are, I'll assign ALL of you on latrine duty FOR THREE MONTHS. Capiche? Capiche." The hologram then paused, looking as if it ended.

"Cayde?" Summer said in surprise. "He knows you guys?"

"I assume nothing bad has happened here gentlemen?" Barloc inquired, ignoring Summer entirely.

"No sir." The group said, hurriedly moving away from them, Barloc with a smug smirk on his face.

"So Summer is that famous around here…" Pyrrha couldn't help but mutter to herself. "Or Cayde maybe?"

"What does my fame have to do with any of that?" Summer said as she looked between the two teammates she had with her. "Seriously, what just happened?!""

00000

Kovik looked upon his captured prey, a crooked smile beneath his SIVA pyramid helmet as he watched the ogre struggled against its bindings in a defiant, blind and relentless rage. The eyes of the beast had been ripped off and set aside, mainly for protection purposes. A lot of SIVA fragments had been used to contain the monster before him, the nanites making roots that went several meters into the ground. He then walked to the eye that was violently ripped from the ogre's skull and placed so gently on the ground. He had instruments in hand, a disassembled shock cannon, and a SIVA nanite cluster. His crooked smile became more and more sinister as he put together the shock cannon back together.

By using the nanites to mend and mold machine and dark biological flesh and morphing it into one. Where dusty blood vessels ended; wires, tubes, and scrap metal began. The Devil Splicers, who at the surface looked as if they had just gotten SIVA, had actually grown rather adept with it in a matter of months. Months that would help the Devils retake the Great Machine, and soon, their rightful place in the galaxy.

His musings were interrupted by the arrival of another splicer entering his personal lab. He recognized as **Vosik, the Archpriest**; second in command to the Archon Prime himself.

"**Is the weapon ready?"** said Vosik as he approached the Splicer Priest.

"**I'm finishing the final touches to the prototype as we speak."** Kovik said as he turned to one that was above him in the Devil Splicers Hierarchy, showing his progress on the newest weapon. "**Provided guardian forces do not come and attack, I should be able to finish it in a couple days." **

Vosik looked down at the weapon, nodding their approval at the Ogre's eye that is being used as both an engine and a focusing lens. "**We shall fortify your lab with reinforcements. Once you've finished, the Archon Prime has ordered that you begin mass production of them, and give them to Meksis for his Siege Engine. We need to make them think that is what we're aiming for, and to take as much control from the Hive as possible."** Vosik said nodding then turned to leave, only to stop himself and turn back to the scientist.

"**One more thing; Taniks has returned to the system, and has generously donated us a portion of his payment from his last job. He wants to see the effects of the Machine Gift on them."**

He went to the nearest holographic display, produced a drive and inserted it. The display showed a group of bipedal lizard-like creatures, a large flock of large bat-like creatures and a large scorpion.

Kovik looked at the display and was fascinated with them.

"**What are they?"**

"**He called them:"Creatures of Grimm". Can you do it?"**

Kovik turned to his superior, a sinister smile forming under his helmet. "**I relish the challenge!"**

00000

Summer's newfound hub ship flew towards the plaguelands she then placed the ship on a course for there LZ that Shiro sent them. He then spoke on the comms.

"The splicers are going deeper into the Plaguelands and disturbing Hive nests from what patrols are telling me. Some went dark investigating and what they could be after we dont know we need you guys to check it out."

This caught Summer attention, and she turned to Drei

"Maybe they're infecting them like zombies." Drei offered. "Like those creatures we faced on Mars."

"A zombie virus making zombies out space zombies." Summer hummed in thought. "Gotta love the irony there."

"They are not space zombies, Summer." Barloc corrected, as Oryx growled in irritance at her. "They are in fact darkness mutated moth people. Pyrrha, how's your aura reserves?"

_**Now I wish he had found my fragments first… clearly a more respectable guardian than the likes of you, Summer. **_

_Whoa, hold on a second though, moth people?_

_**Those 'butterflies' you saw in my priest's chambers weren't just for show. **_Pyrrha held aloft the Dormant SIVA Cluster as a way to test how much she's going to handle. _**They were in fact part of the long forgotten species that was us. Gulgoroth was working on a way to evolve them, and send them off to another galaxy… until you came along.**_

"A little used, but otherwise optimal capacity." Pyrrha spoke, as she dropped the fragment safely into a container. "These things are rather easy for me to lift. Pretty much weightless even, I think I can prevent them from infecting us if Aksis tries to come after us with whole waves of SIVA."

"It's called a joke by the by Barloc The Warlock." Summer said sarcastically with a smile on her face, as she went to look over his shoulder. Barloc happened to be reading Shin Malphur's autobiography. His eyes were focused, as if he was trying to see if there was something to be gained from his story that he could make light of. She then grinned. "Let me know if you've _shone your light_ on anything interesting in that book!"

"Just one call Summer." Barloc whispered to himself. "One call, and Shin Malphur shall be on Tai."

"Chat time is over folks." Shiro said over the comms. "You're nearing Lord's Watch. Head to Giant's Rock and figure out what is going on between the splicers and Hi-"

The ship's alarm then blared, red lights flashing and catching everyone's attention.

"Fallen skiffs next to us!" Drei called out, activating the ship's defenses. "I'm-"

A skiff then flew up in front of the ship the team was in, causing them to aim their weapons, Barloc with Truth and Pyrrha getting ready to rush the ship, while Summer aided Barloc with Gjallarhorn. A vandal had crawled out of the ship, shock cannon hanging from an arm as he climbed up from below the ship

Who they saw shocked them.

"Rahndel?"

"**We meet again Summer Rose."**

00000

**A/N:**

**Dustiniz117: For those of you wondering about Tanik's job and his payment, see my upcoming chapter for Remnant of an Iron Rose Shorts: Salem's Lesson to be Ascendant (75% done). Now, onto the reviews.**

**Colvamoon999: is that ultimus Or primis Richtofen **

**Animeak116: I don't know which one had the medieval armor that he'd pass as a brand new Ironlord? My COD Zombies lore is a bit rusty as it's been way too long since I've played Quest to end the game galore (SERIOUSLY ACTIVISION! What's wrong with classic survival?)**

**Tempest Light 85:****hi im tempest I read his story, and I just hope he'll make. just remember that he would be proud of you all for continuing his legacy while hopefully, he recovers-**

**Diluation:*Goes to get some popcorn***

**Tempest Light 85: I'm so sorry I didn't read the 6th chapter when I made my earlier comment Im so sorry for your loss**

**Animeak116: Its ok man not your fault**

**Diluation(while munching on popcorn):Nice to see you again btw. I'd ask how that story of yours went, but I think we both know how it fared.**

**FoxFanfics:Ok, I've checked database after database. But what is Time's Edge? Closest I can get is Infinite Void Edge.**

**Diluation:That is from Remnant Of A Rose, the starter fic of it all, introduced near the end of things in that part of the series Ptabs0101 started. You should go read it if you haven't already, or need to catch up on things.**

**Guest(please choose a name to go by next time -Diluation):How are we going to deal with Titan?**

**Replace it with the Dreadnaught. As it has been cleared out by Lux, Prometheus, and Cayde, it sets it up so we could put a bit of a spin in place of Titan.**

_**~ In memory of Ptabs0101 ~**_


	16. Bad Blood

"So let me get this straight:" Barloc started out, as he sat on a ledge not too far away from the Lord's Watch drop off point. The skiff and hub ship had been parked in the courtyard next to where they were at, the skiff still slightly active. "Summer's success in destroying the replication complex had been detected before you guys were about to blast off… and now you guys want vengeance?"

"**Aksis had taken our whole house apart in his hunger for power. His main source has been taken away for the time being." **Rahndel stated as fact, a growl wanting vengeance at how he reminded himself of what they've done. "**It was one thing to bring back the prime, a good thing nonetheless. But to rob us of our bodies entirely, without giving us a choice? There is no honor in this madness."**

"We've faced worse." Summer said firmly, as Pyrrha looked noticeably threatened at the fact SIVA could take control of her body. "You guys don't have to help us."

"**This is not just a personal matter, Rose." **Rahndel gripped the scorch canon he had tighter. "**What Aksis has done, and what he is doing now… it is bringing ruin to the Eliksni."**

"**Rahndel" **A dreg came up behind the Fallen leader, decked out in vandal gear despite having two arms. "**The other guardian forces have detected our position. Should we continue on with the mission before they arrive?"**

"They will do no such harm, I assure you. I'm here as a Vanguard representative, under Cayde-6." Barloc said in an attempt to lessen the dreg's fears.

"You seem out of the norm for the other dregs." Summer couldn't help but note the Vandal armor, despite having two arms. "Who are you?"

"**I am Greig The Dreg, sibling of Rahndel." **The now named Greig explained. "**I was the one who brought Rahndel back for treatment after your skirmish. Now, I am in charge of the ships. Think of me as a- what do you humans call it… a shipwright?"**

Greig turned to look at Barloc, who was unsurprised at the fact. Barloc noticed Greig's rising question, and answered it before it got out. "I researched into your kind. Rest assured, I know what you refer to when you say 'great machine'."

"We should get going." Summer said, as she prepared her sparrow. "Pyrrha, you come with me, Fireteam Rap, you go do what you do best."

A brief silence fell between all involved, as everyone looked to Summer. Barloc had his arms crossed, while Rahndel and Greig gave her a confused look.

"Fireteam Rap." She said with a grin. "It's cause all of your names rhyme."

Barloc looked to Rahndel with exasperation evident in his voice. "Let's just get it done." He said, as they then boarded the skiff.

"**I will escort Barloc and Rahndel to Archon's Keep as to survey out for movement." **Greig said, as he hung from one of the ship's hatches. "**I will provide aerial support if needed." **

"So…" Pyrrha said as she got on the sparrow with Summer, whilst Greig crawled into the ship and flew away. "You and that… Rahndel know each other, even though you two are enemies?"

"Yep! It's a long story that involves a pre-Golden Age weapons cache, a fight that had us in a stalemate, which then resulted in us fighting together against a nest of alien space zombies that we inadvertently woke." Summer said as she loaded her weapons while on the move. "And between you and me, I won that fight."

Rahndel's voice came over the frequency. "**That duel was a draw, Rose."**

Summer groaned already hating the fact that they had to share a frequency with her on-again off-again frenemies for this. But they were both against Aksis for many different and same reasons.

They both want the Archon Prime dead to prevent his techno-plague from spreading beyond the Cosmodrome and to the rest of the galaxy. In Rahndel's case, as a small bonus, if he killed the Archon and dissolved the Devil Splicers, all remaining Fallen Devils that haven't gone over would rally behind him, making him their leader.

It would just be exchanging one murderous leader for another, however in this case, the leader might be more amicable to a ceasefire.

Thats a big might!

That is if by some unforeseen events all the Fallen in the system rally together under one banner. But what are the odds of that happening?

00000

Somewhere else, Prince Uldren sneezed.

_Someone was thinking of him and his plan_.

He dismissed that thought and sent himself back to work on his plans.

00000

"I'm guessing we're walking into something more than a territorial dispute." Drei hazard a guess at what was going on.

"Agreed. The Hive chatter is more aggressive than usual… it cannot just be a show of force."

"**Aksis is greedy." **Greig decided to add in. "**I would not be surprised if Archon Prime has stolen the Hive."**

_**My children...**_

After a short drive to the oil tanker, in which Pyrrha took in the lost ruins of the cosmodrome with an eager, yet sorrowful look upon her face, as she realized not only how far humanity had come here, but also how hard they've fallen. Various ships meant for water lay inert on the ground, and the wall, something of which was once proud and mighty, was left in ruins, with various panels rusted or torn off from being left alone by the elements. There was even some SIVA crawling on the panels of the wall, as if trying to mend the damages.

Off in the distance from the oil tanker in Giant's Rock, the two saw the Splicers and Hive duking it out under a broken bridge in a full-on war. A small fighting group of Hive consisted of a Hive broodmother, some Acolytes and some Thrall. The acolytes and broodmother were shooting at the Splicers up on a cliffside near a cave as the thrall hid, waiting to maul any ground forces that may appear. The other side consisting of a Captain, a couple Vandals with dregs at their sides returning fire by lobbing a few SIVA cluster bombs, and attempting to snipe out the other side with their height advantage.

"I'm detecting a lot of crates up on the bridge." Drei announced via the internal comm signals. "Greig, the situation?"

"**Splicer ships coming to your location." **Greig spoke. "**They're transporting goods. And judging by your live feed, Hive, dregs, or SIVA bombs. Very clever."**

"Neither would be beneficial I'd say." Pyrrha spoke, as she watched the ferocious battle before her. "And I'd wager the former."

_**It is the case. I can hear them. They cry out for freedom within the prisons. **_

"Greig, can you get in there and bomb their leader out?" Shiro-4 asked Greig over the comms. "That might put a stop to this."

"**Landing zone too hot, and enemy ships inbound. The Guardian's job."**

"Then I guess it is time to show my Thorns." Summer said, whipping out Thorn as she got off the sparrow with Pyrrha. She grinned as she felt Oryx being left in disgust and gratefulness. Mostly disgust though.

As soon as Summer pulled out Thorn, the Hive felt the darkness emanating from her. They looked to her, recognizing it for what it was, and fled, deciding to let the newcomer take their spot. The splicers up on the hill took note of them once they noticed the Hive's focus was lost, and began attacking them instead, the captain choosing to keep its high ground instead of fighting Summer head on.

Pyrrha forced a SIVA cluster back where it was with her polarity, it killing the dreg that threw it shot the heads off of the Vandals up top. The captain returned fire by shooting a few shrapnel shots at Summer, but she aftly dodged them as if she wasn't even trying to, and leapt up the cliffside to engage the captain in a sword fight it was bound to lose, as it tried to pull out a couple swords. It was unable to, as Summer slammed her sword down at the captain, causing it to fall down from the impact as Summer then stabbed it through the chest, killing it.

Pyrrha took a deep breath as they began to approach the swiftly destroyed splicer group, before muttering to herself. "Just think of them as those Apathy we learned about…" Was all she said, as they jumped up the cliffside.

The two looked to the Hive off in the distance, who looked to be more busy climbing the oil tanker to get on top of the bridge above them. Drei then uncloaked and inspected the captain, spotting a coded splicer relay on its corpse. He scanned it.

"References to the Hive on this. They're definitely doing something with them up there."

"_**Which is why we ask for a temporary truce."**_

Summer and Pyrrha whipped around to face the Hive broodmother, who almost instinctively dodged at the sight of them turning so quickly with their weapons drawn.

"Why is it not attacking us?" Pyrrha couldn't help but wonder, shield at the ready in case it made a sudden move.

_Moreover why can I understand it…_

_**I am translating it for you, Rose. Be thankful.**_

The wizard continued. "_**I can sense our king within you. Tell your fellow children of the Sky:We are only protecting ourselves. Your kind are insignificant at the moment." **_Was all the wizard said, as it flew past them up a gap in the bridge, going to join the fight with its remnants of its troops.

"Err, why didn't we shoot it?" Drei couldn't help but ask. "This is not normal for the Hive to just leave guardians alone…."

Summer slightly panicked while trying to come up with an explanation as to why. "You know what, it doesn't matter. Let's clean out the Splicers first, then we can deal with the Hive." This was not the time or place to let everyone in on what was happening. Summer hefted Thorn and ran to join the fray.

Drei and Pyrrha looked to each other in confusion, before Pyrrha shrugged, joining the fray as well.

If they thought the Hive and the Splicers were at war down below, they hadn't seen the real scene yet. Up on the bridge was more of a full-on assault between the Hive and Fallen. Several dregs were manhandling the spider tanks that happened to be about the place, trying to rip the legs off of the machine as they returned fire, firing tank blasts into them and pulsing with arc energy as to try and fend them off, as captains were in sword fights with knights while acoyltes were shooting down Vandals and Dregs. Mysteriously, the Hive had no thrall in the battle.

"I was expecting a bit of a problem, but they're at total war here Shiro!"

Before they could even get to fire a shot, a half dozen splicer ships came out from orbit, adding aerial fire from above and destroying several ogres and Hive troops.

"**Fight too dangerous to help friend. Destroy the ships, yes?" **Greig asked, as another ogre was destroyed by the tanks. "**Or mission failure."**

The two did not waste time. As soon as the words came through, Pyrrha used her semblance on one of the many ship crates. It glowed with a black glow as she threw it at one of the ships, causing the front of it to explode with a fatal engine failure, as it landed on the ground, exploding. She then looked to Summer, who was already in the gunfight between Hive and Splicers. "I need light!"

"On it!" She said as she pulled out her knife, arc energy surrounding her body as the blade was empowered and extended to that of a shortsword. She blinked to a group of splicers, doing a spin in the air that released a wave of arc, disintegrating them as a couple orbs of light were dropped. A spider tank with few ogres on it had taken notice of her, and was aiming its main cannon at her. Summer saw this, and blinked away to make it aim at one of the ships by jumping on top of one of them. Sure enough, the tank followed the petals up to where she was, and began to charge its main cannon. Just as it was about to fire, Summer blinked away, the tank firing and taking down another one of its ships.

Pyrrha threw her shield into the crossfire, it cutting off the heads of several Hive and Splicers soldiers as she ran forth, slashing at a few shanks that were in her way to get the orbs, managing to grab a few and absorb their power. She went to grab another crate, but saw one of them break open and hesitated, Hive thrall pouring out from it and into the battle, mauling at the Splicers and their tanks in a rage. She then went to throw a crate at a ship, causing it to be destroyed from the mere impact. She then went forth to help Summer with the battle ahead of her.

The remaining couple of ships seemed to realize that it was a lost cause trying to win the battle, and went to try and take some crates.

"**You've done well guardian." **Greig's voice came over the comms, as he flew in from over the oil tanker. "**Reinforcements inbound."**

Greig's ship fired at one of the ships that were trying to fly away with some captured Hive containers, causing the crate to fall to the ground wide open for even more Hive to pour out, a few acolytes and cursed thrall within as they rushed out into the open, with several more opening and beginning to completely overwhelm the Splicer forces up on the bridge, quite literally getting ripped apart as thrall and knights surged forth attacking the Splicers. Greig saw the opportunity to carpet bomb the hordes with shock grenades, and flew over to do exactly that.

Explosions rocked the bridge as the two armies were beginning to be completely destroyed, overwhelmed by the sheer amount of grenade landing onto the platform, causing the Hive to dive off the bridge in an attempt to survive, hordes of Hive jumping off as the Ogres, as well as a few unlucky Hive were caught in the crossfire, with Thrall keeping the Splicers pinned.

Summer pulled her arcblade out of a Hive knight, watching the remaining ship pick up the crate and try to leave. "The ship!" She then pulled out Gjallarhorn, attempting to shoot it down.

Pyrrha heard Summer call out within the noise, and pulled out her spear from the head of a knight. Putting her two weapons to the side for a moment, she held her hands out, and with all the might her aura could muster, ripped the ship in half with her polarity with a loud yell, the metal groaning and creaking from being split apart, before exploding with the crate it had.

Grieg tried to go after the Hive next, but was only able to get a couple shots in, as they quickly went into the tunnels below. He growled to himself. "**Enemies retreating. Lick their wounds they shall… Rahndel, what of the splicers?"**

00000

"**We've found what they've been up to. Your suspicions have been all but confirmed." **Rahndel spoke, as he looked down upon the bloated Thrall corpses he had personally killed under one of the ruined ships scattered throughout the Plaguelands.

"Problem now, is that we're deep in Hive and Splicer territory." Barloc spoke, as he watched Rahndel's six, the two. "We've entered a secret passage under the Archon's Keep. Turns out the High Splicer Priest had a lab here for his underlings. We'll need you to get us a ride out, cliffside of the keep. You might expect hostiles outside, as we had initially entered silently."

True to the warlock's word, there were dozens of cages that no longer contained Hive, instead their ashes as they had already been shot to death in the cages. A few splicers laid dead on the ground around them, having been cut cleanly in half by Barloc's Sol Edge.

"**Are you sure you're not in his lair?" **

"It is ill fit for a High Priest." Barloc stated, as they went back through the place, several monitors greeting them. "It's where the Splicers are draining the lava out of the keep. Guardian patrols have been trying to access it, but nobody thought about blowing up the door as they were too busy hunting for Splicers and just left the ghosts to it… back in my day I would've-" Barloc rant went off into mumbles as he spoke.

"**The Old coot thinks we should escape." **Rahndel said, as he scanned the room. "**I'd be inclined to agree. For such a room like this, it has a rather lax security."**

"**That is because it is little more than a trap."**

The two turned to face the monitors, which had **Vosik, The Archpriest **glaring at them, red eyes meeting blue and green.

Barloc looked at Vosik with an undeterred look on his face. "Right hand of the Archon, yes?

"**I was hoping that the White Rose herself would be here, but with you and this Vandal here, it's the perfect opportunity to test out our newest acquisitions."** Vosik said as he pressed a button. Barloc and Rahndel watched as several doors opened around them.

"**You guardians refer these as 'space zombies' yes?" **Vosik said with a chuckle in his voice. "**How about we take that to a more… literal term?"**

Barloc readied his weapons while Rahndel readied his Arc blades as the doors opened completely and red eyes came to life from within the confines.

"And to think she killed one mind-controlling villain just so we get another." Barloc bitterly muttered.

Rahndel said nothing, only focusing on the enemy in front of them.

SIVA infected Hive then surged forth, bulbous thralls and acid spewing acolytes suddenly surging forth from the doorways. Barloc shot a Truth rocket at one of the many doors, firing at the thrall with Havoc Pigeon on his free hand as whole groups of Hive were decimated in a single rocket. Rahndel slipped past the ranks of the bulbous Hive thralls, and made to attack the acolytes that were firing from behind their ranks. He sliced one in half as they began to split, instead focusing on him as the thrall rushed down Barloc.

Barloc remained undeterred, instead simply swapping to Shadow Price the moment Havoc Pigeon's mag went empty. He pulled out a frag grenade and threw it into the middle of the horde as he fired, doing his best to reload Havoc Pigeon with only an arm to spare, quickly tapping into the comms as he did so. "The Splicers have sensed us! Greig, we need evac, NOW!"

"**On my way guardian. Keep Rahndel alive, yes? Or House of Devils will be without leader."**

Rahndel cut through the Acolytes, barely even harmed by the acid spikes launched at him as he narrowly avoided them by ducking and rolling out of the way while letting two swords cut the Hive as he rolled past. He glanced to Barloc, who looked to be having trouble with the Hive, barely managing to hold the thralls off with well placed shots. He went forth to allow him to reload, and slice the thrall coming at Barloc. "**Reload guardian!"**

Barloc did exactly that without a moment of hesitation, putting another rocket into Truth and moving to a different angle while the thrall focused on Rahndel. He rolled out of the way of some infected acolytes that were firing acid spikes at him, and turned around to fire a rocket at them, finishing off the acolytes in the room. He reloaded another rocket, and looked to Rahndel. "Backflip out, now!"

As soon as he saw Rahndel do the motion, Barloc fired Truth, decimating the remainder of the horde with one last rocket shot.

Barloc looked to the vent they came out of earlier, and saw it covered with live SIVA. He grit his teeth as he looked to Rahndel. "We'll need to fight through it." He then put Truth on his back, as he reloaded Shadow Price and Havoc Pigeon. "I'm certain at this point it is either we work together, or we both get killed."

The two heard a Hive wizard release a high pitch shriek in the background, almost distorted and in pain. Rahndel looked to Barloc. "**This we agree on, warlock."**

The two exited the room through one of the many doors, immediately greeted by infected Hive attacking them and splicers, shrapnel and shredders firing almost in unison at the two as they forced their way through, Barloc firing Truth rockets at huge groups of enemies whenever he saw them, and swapping to Shadow Price whenever the herd was thinned enough for them to keep moving, grabbing ammo as they went.

When they finally came upon the entrance to the whole building, they saw the wizard. A ghastly creature with a giant zit-like SIVA pod on its back with red coming out of its normally lifeless helmet. The wizard released a distorted cry of challenge, as it charged SIVA charged up around its hands to fire a moderately sized energy beam of SIVA, forcing Barloc and Rahndel to duck for cover.

"**Ship is here. Come back, yes?" **

"We've got one last bogey to deal with here." Barloc said, as he reloaded another rocket. "After that, the Vanguard needs to be notified of the new threat. Splicers are one thing, but Hive are another thing entirely for SIVA to infect."

As Barloc spoke, Rahndel tried to rush the wizard down, of which in response the wizard released a pulse of crimson red electricity as to force him back, sending him rolling backwards into a crate, but inadvertently allowing Barloc a chance to fire a rocket, before swapping to Shadow Price and shooting it in the helmet, it taking the whole mag to kill it.

"I don't think Saladin will like the idea of invading the Plaguelands for Hive." Shiro-4 said over the comms.

"It's not going to be just Earth, Shiro." Barloc said as he helped Rahndel up, his chestplate scorched by the pulse attack. "And tell them to put more pressure on the Remnant front for disease control. That is going to be a breeding ground for SIVA if we don't ensure it doesn't become that way."

"We kind of need to get going guys!" Drei anxiously called out over the comms. "The Splicers are catching on to the fact that this ship isn't one of them!"

"**Almost there little light." **Rahndel said with a slightly pained tone to his voice. "**Don't burn yourself out worrying about us."**

Barloc chuckled as Drei acted indignant at the nickname towards him, rushing to the entrance alongside Rahndel. "Never gets old with these ghosts."

The two then exited the undercover lab of the Archon's Keep, and jumped onto the skiff, climbing into one of the hatches. They met Greig inside the cockpit area who turned to look at them, Barloc producing a data chip as he walked up alongside Rahndel.

"It's time to plan some strikes out with the Iron Lords you two." He said whilst twirling the chip around in his palm. "Unless you're playing it safe."

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**Diluation:Sorry for being late again. I had a midterm, and then a fire threatened to consume my house, which would've forced me to be off from writing this for a whole year as I'd have to get my life together. On top of that, I'm getting the smoke from the fire, which isn't helping my writing, so I apologize if this chapter is a bit sloppy. **

**Last words all said and done, onto the reviews.**

**Dragon lord Syed 101:good chapter, but the bitching was annoying.**

**Fireteam:You asked for our opinions, we gave you 'em.**

**Diluation:But of course, since some of you don't seem to like it, we'll keep it out of the story. You never had to read that bit though, AN is simply us responding to reviews in our own ways.**

**BraveSeeker3:Gosh! You guys are using Ptabs' cover image (there's nothing wrong with that!), and I'm tossing around the idea of Guardian!Summer around. Depends on whether I do it or not, but I'd be willing to let you guys use it as a cover image.**

**Diluation:Our policy on fanfics tied to ours, fanart, etc, is the same policy as the man himself instigated. Aquilos, if you may?**

**Aquilos:You can expand and create art as long as you don't write anything that contradicts the main story.**

**Guest:Who is Rahndel, and if the fallen are part moth people-**

**Diluation:Stop.**

**Once again, I remind you all to read Ptabs0101's Remnant of a Rose, and Remnant of an Iron Rose before continuing onto this, in that order. His brother had since renamed the account as 'ptabs0101's brother', but both of those stories are very much there, and we would HIGHLY recommend you read up on them. We get that you're curious, but our policy on this is the same as Ptabs0101. Guest reviewers asking questions regarding the story will get deleted from here on out, unless they also give their thoughts. It hasn't been happening before, but we decided to use this as a reminder since one of you didn't seem to catch that.**

**Also the fallen are not part moth people. **_**Oryx speaks in bold italics, and spoke that line, meaning he's referring to the Hive once being like that.**_

**Diluation:All reviews done with, we hope to see you next chapter.**

_**~ In memory of Ptabs0101 ~**_


	17. A Hard To Fall For Friendship

Saladin stood there as the impromptu "Fireteam Blazier" reported their from the eventful mission they had. Saladin listened to every detail, from the war on top of the bridge, to the Hive Lab hidden inside of the Archon's Keep. The grip on his ax tightened as the briefing went on.

"...In summary, the newfound leader of the uninfected Devils said that for as long as Aksis is alive, we should remain in a temporary alliance." Barloc finished his four minute report of the mission. "Getting these Fallen on our side could potentially turn the tides with some inside field intelligence. The Splicers would finally be at a disadvantage."

"I see. And do you have confidence in this testimony Lady Rose?" Saladin asked, still uneasy about trusting this sub faction of the house of Devils.

"No reason not to. I was there first hand. Plus, Randel wants to keep me alive so he could kill me himself. Not that it wouldn't be fun to see him try." She said that last bit with a hint of wickedness in her voice. Saladin wasn't sure how to respond to that last statement. He cleared his throat before continuing.

"Well, in any case, our list of allies are thin and as much as I despise the fallen. Aksis is a far greater threat than any scavenger." He then looked at the stone carving detailing the Iron Lord's history. "Felwinter, Radegast, Gheleon… all under the control of SIVA, before you freed them. All ready and willing to infect countless others. We cannot have another Oryx on our hands."

_**How dare this light compare me to that insect! If I were around, I could've easily just taken them all with naught but my own hands!**_

Summer shook her head from the mental shouting and went back on track.

It was too soon a recovery however, as Barloc had noticed. His face turned to one of concern and confusion. "Is everything alright Summer?"

"I'm alright Barloc." She pretended to act casual, even though all eyes were upon her. "I was just thinking."

"Just, about all this." Summer tried to deflect the warlock's questions before they came out as best as she could. "It's just one extinction level event after another."

"Mmmm." Barloc stepped back, appearing satisfied with the answer. Saladin looked back to the group, finished with his reminiscing.

"For now, go gather what you need, and prepare. When new information arrives, we'll plan our next move then." He sighs, "Be Brave, guardians." his age showing in his voice. "I have a feeling these next few days will decide the fate of us all." Summer and Barloc nod before leaving the hall, leaving Saladin to his devices.

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Later that night, Summer found herself by her ship, checking over her inventory and storage of items and gear. Barloc had retreated to somewhere, probably to go be grouchy about something else, summer figured. She was going through all the new loot she had acquired in the past few days, dusting the stuff she didn't want to keep around for materials.

"Not this, not this, not this…" She muttered as she dusted a blue grade autorifle. The next item she held up was a bright red cloak. The material seemed of rather high quality, but it was stained with what looked like fallen blood. "Ew, definitely not this." She was ready to dust it too when a voice interrupted her.

"You know, Ruby likes that color."

Summer spun around, her hand going to Thorn on reflex.

"Whoa there, please." Summer found herself looking at Pyrrha Nikos, who had her hands up. "Sorry for sneaking up on you like this." Summer relaxed and let go of Thorn's handle.

"Oh, Pyrrha. What's up?" Summer greeted.

"Still, well still trying to kind of come to terms with all this. It's overwhelming if I'm totally honest." Pyrrha sat down at the edge of the landing platform, looking out towards the mountains of Felwinter as Summer transmatted out two cans of cola from her storage and walked over, before sitting down next to her. She hands Pyrrha one who graciously accepts as she continues.

"You're experiencing how I felt when I first woke up, resurrected." Summer began as she popped the tab on her can and took a sip.

"How did it feel?" Pyrrha asked as she took a sip of her drink. She found the taste quite pleasant, though she would have preferred less sugar.

"Confusing, chaotic, words like that." The white cloaked huntress replied. "It was so much to process all at once. Drei filled me in on everything as we went along, but it didn't make anything feel less maddening."

"It feels the same for me." Pyrrha replied. "A year ago, my biggest worry might have been an Elder Grimm, the White Fang, or Oobleck's next exam. Today, I just fought against aliens, machines, and fusions of both, learning that all of these dwarf the threat of the Grimm by orders of magnitudes." The amazon sighs. "It's a lot to take in, that there is a threat out there so much greater, and more powerful."

"I know how you feel Pyrrha." Summer responds. "I know, everyone likes to put me up on a pedestal as this fearless champion of the light and all. But I've personally lost count how many times I've stared down a threat and considered running away, or feeling panic take over and become reckless."

"I, I wouldn't have been able to tell." Pyrrha admitted as she took another sip. "I thought that the fact you can resurrect yourselves would alleviate that."

"Being a Guardian doesn't mean we learn to live without fear." Summer explained. "Yes, death is no longer a concern for us, but that doesn't mean we will always come back. Even if we're not aware of it, everytime we go out on a mission, in the back of our minds, there's always that sliver of worry that this will be the one that ends us."

"And for some of us, that fear became truth." Summer concluded as she gazed out towards the peaks of Felwinter.

"What happened?" Pyrrha asked. "Warlock Byf mentioned a great disaster, but didn't explain further, saying it wasn't a story for the faint of heart."

"Crota happened." Summer began, the memories of her raid team for Crota flooding back to her. "The Dark Prince of the Hive, whose sword could devour the Light and permanently kill Guardians. When the City launched a full scale attack at the Moon, many of us didn't realize it would have ended it the way it did. We lost a thousand Guardians that day in a slaughter we never saw coming. I wasn't part of the attack, but I heard stories. Some of the survivors broke from the carnage and the shock of what had happened. The Consensus put a permanent ban on travel to the moon except for absolute emergencies. Well, until a few years ago. I flew to the moon with a fireteam, ready to end what had been started. I faced the Hive Prince head on. I slew Crota with his own sword."

"Oh." Pyrrha simply said, her mind trying to comprehend what such a task could have required.

"Basically, Pyrrha, I know it can be difficult now. But people like us, Guardians and Huntsmen, we do what we do because of our love for humanity. We put ourselves out there for those who can't do so themselves. It is an honor, and a privilege, to fight for them." Pyrrha gave a slight chuckle.

"I can see why Ruby admired you so much." She mused.

"I doubt my little rose remembers much of me, but it seems that much rubbed off on her." Summer laughed. "It was quite jarring to meet her. It was almost like looking in a mirror."

"You got impaled by your own daughter upon meeting. I doubt many parents have that kind of story to tell."

"I didn't react because I was admittedly in shock. I mean it makes sense right? Suddenly meeting a mini-me and then learning you had a kid, a family, all that you have no recollection of." Summer took a deep breath at the memory. "Not exactly as bad as that one time I got stuck in a Hive torture trap, but the revelation of the whole 'past life family' was what really hit me hard after I found out she was my daughter."

Pyrrha raised an eyebrow at that. "Should I be-"

"Yeah, the Hive love torture and brutality." Summer said, as if it was no big deal. "So take that to heart when you get a mission involving them, because death would be better than being in that situation."

Pyrrha noticeably paled at the thought of having to fight such monsters, but otherwise nodded.

Summer then looked to Pyrrha. "So, what of you Mistral champion? Put up on a pedestal a lot too before I came in like a wrecking ball?"

Pyrrha also cringed at the reference. "Well, people did have high expectations of me before I finished training, like expecting me to single-handedly defeat the White Fang…"

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He watched the two share their life stories from afar with a flat look upon his eyes. It was a lot of work, trying to convince Pyrrha Nikos to talk with Summer, but the end result was achieved nonetheless. Summer was beginning to talk more now, and in turn this had begun to allow him to collect the data he needs to determine whether or not Summer is ok… and so far, it proved to be nothing.

He felt his scroll vibrate. He took it out, and saw that Cayde was on the line. He picked up.

"Hunter."

"Space Nerd."

"What is it you want, Cayde?"

"Oh nothing much, really." His voice came out with a faked casualty to his tone, but not sloppily done enough to come across as such. "Just checking in on my favorite guardian."

"...She appears to be doing well, despite what's happened to her so far. A noticeable change is prevalent compared to the historical account I've received from you, however."

"And that is?"

"The frequency of stale humor is slightly off, and rises to normal levels when back around those close to her, such as you. I also have suspicions Oryx is speaking to her and the Hive she comes across. Your instincts appear to be correct in the regard of a potential change… and we know why we don't particularly like that."

Cayde took a deep breath, before sighing. "Try to keep death off of you two. I don't want her to end up like that."

"Underst-"

"I mean it, warlock. She's the closest thing I got to an 'Ace'... you feel me?"

He took a deep breath.

"Don't make oldies take promises, kinderguardian."

"Thanks."

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**Meanwhile at the Rocketyards**

Under the cover of night, a small contingent of Randhel's Fallen slink through through the snowed out landscape. Greig had tasked them to scout out a Refinery that Randhel believed is being used as some sort of base for the splicers. The Fallen squad had begrudgingly accepted, having protested first at doing the bidding of "lightbearers" before Randhel silenced any opposition by threatening to dock whatever arms they had left. As a result, the two marauders and two vandals of the squad were creeping up towards the rocketyards, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious.

"**This task is bothersome." **one of the Marauders complained as they drew close. "**It is revolting to have to be the dogs of that, Summer Rose." **

"**Silence." **One of the Vandals spat. This one had a yellow stripe on his cloak, designating him as the squad leader. "**We do as we are ordered. The lightbearer offends me with her presence, but better her than that traitorous Aksis." **

"**We're about to cross into their territory. Activate your active camouflage, and stick to the shadows." **the other marauder called out. All at once, the squad disappeared into vaguely visible translucent outlines. They quickly and cautiously sprinted across the courtyard into the main complex. Crawling on the walls and avoiding lights where they could. Once they had made it inside, the group paused to make sure they didn't set off any alarms.

"**Procede lightly. We are in their maw now." **the Vandal leader warned.

They walked into a hallway with a hole in the wall, jumping out of the hole into a place full of snow covered trains and SIVA nodes. Construction shanks were all about the place installing turrets to be infected by SIVA, with the trees surprisingly remaining untouched. The roof above them however, was torn to shreds from combat and rust, with several small and huge holes in it as snow fell from above and onto metal ship crates that were buried in snow. An oil pipeline was threatening to fall down, teetering on the edge of an opening in the rooftop.

Deeper into the complex, they could hear the sound of the splicers chatting. They went deeper within, passing by an inactive Hive seeder as they listened in from behind some crates.

"**The SIVA augments from Splicer Priest Kovik are quite useful, yes?" **A Splicer Vandal couldn't help but comment at his new wear, idly playing around with his new Hive claw appendage he took for his new arms. "**Hive missing out**."

"**They will not join our banner." **A captain said, grunting. "**Nar bar ban di. Better off using them as vessels."**

"**I agree." **The Vandal nodded. "**Blind fools do not know of our plans. Nar dras den zes SIVA… the plan Aksis has laid out is foolproof. Gods through their folly. Blind faith to old machine god. The home of the Rose, ours..." **The two splicers then went to get out of earshot, still making comments about other races and fallen houses being 'foolish and inferior' to the gift that is SIVA.

One of the marauders crept further in, to try to get a closer listen on what the splicers were saying. However before he even made two steps, an alarm went off throughout the complex. The Fallen squad looked around in panic, not expecting this turn of events. From above there was a mechanical growl, as a shadow fell over the space they were in. The Fallen band looks up as a Splicer Walker drops down in front of them. At the same time, other splicers stream into the room.

One of the Marauders spat out a swear.

**"Scatter!" **Ordered the Vandal captain. The four dove behind cover as the walker unleashed a barrage of missiles in their direction. Missile explosions echoed and flashed around them as the Splicers also opened fire. Ducking under the hail of laser fire, the captain vandal brought his wire rifle to bear and started taking down the Splicers on the balconies. In rapid succession, three fell to his well placed shots. At the same time, the two marauders cloaked once more, the pair of them scurrying around the battlefield to flank the Splicers. The last vandal was busy dealing with the Walker, trying to distract it from its allies, while also trying to figure out how to destroy it best. The vandal fired off his wire rifle at the Splicer Walker but his shots glanced harmlessly off the SIVA armor encasing its carapace. At the same time, the walker's turret started charging, and the Vandal dove out of the way, just in time for a blast of solar energy to scorch the area he was just at.

"**The walker is resilient!" **The vandal called out to his captain who was busy dispatching more Splicers. "**We lack the necessary weapons to destroy it." **

"**Then perhaps they do." **The vandal captain replied as he blew the head off of another splicer. The splicer's headless corpse fell next to the captain who retrieved its Siva shock rifle. Aiming it at the walker's exposed joints. He let loose a barrage of red energy at the Walker, the SIVA enhanced bolts seeming to be far more effective than their normal weapons, as it started stripping away at the walker.

In another part of the room, the two marauders, with their shock blades drawn, snuck up behind a group of Splicer dregs. Before any of the splicers realized it, the pair had decloaked, driving shock blades into necks and torsos alike, silencing them for good. Just as the two marauders were about to move onto their next targets, the door behind them slid open with a hiss. A hail of shrapnel flew out, burrowing into the marauders, sending them flying backwards. From the shadows of the door, a Splicer captain stepped out, more splicer soldiers streaming in behind him.

"**Slaughter the interlopers!" **he ordered to his minions as the fresh troops started attacking as well.

With this sudden turn of events, the battle was dramatically no longer in the Fallen squad's favor. The two marauders were severely wounded and were now locked in a pitched battle against the new horde of splicers. In the back, the Vandals had only successfully disabled one of the walker's legs before it unleashed another hail of missiles at them. The vandal captain found himself blown against the wall with a _crunch_. Pain lanced through his body as he fell to the ground, his two right arms broken. The other vandal faired better, having landed further back, near the way they came in. The tank turret was rotating about as the Splicer Captain approached them as well.

"**Prepare to die. None may disturb the awakening of our god." **The captain growled as he grabbed the vandal captain by the neck, lifting him into the air. The vandal captain clawed at the Splicer captain's hand, trying to break free but to no avail. With a grunt of effort, it turned its head towards the remaining vandal by the doorway.

"**G-Go!" **He growled through choked gasps before with a _snap_, his limp body went limp in the Splicer captain's hand. The remaining vandal, realizing what would happen if he stayed, leapt onto his arms and scurried out as fast as he could. Behind him, he could hear the Splicer captain, ordering his soldiers to go after him.

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**A/N: Hello there, this is Dustiniz117 here to give you some news. (dodges a boot) First off, apologies to both my fellow readers and my co-writers for my absence, been playing both borderlands 3 and the new Shadowkeep. (dodges another boot) And I've been suffering a case of extreme writers block. (dodges two consecutive boots) Good news is that I'm 90% done with my next chapter for my Iron Rose shorts and 5% done with the one after that. I'll give you the latter here: "The Spider and the Schnee".**

**Diluation:Take that!(throws boot) And that!(throws another boot)**

**So please(dodging boots from my fellow co-writers) be patient.**

**Diluation:I'll be patient when my hair is grey!(throws another boot)**

***Ahem* So, that out of the way, sorry we didn't get it done on time. School got in the way(math class that requires almost full attention), as well as family issues. **

**Aquilos: I was caught up with school, and was also grinding for every crucible pinnacle weapon in Momentum Control. (I got them btw)**

**Diluation:And Animeak and I also got into an original project that's an anime inspired by RWBY and Game of Thrones. It's top secret, so can't spoil it! But you know what we can do? Reviews!**

**Miniatmat:Loving the series so far. I was wondering, is there a hub or something where there are all the side-stories related to this one?**

**Diluation:Unfortunately, no, does not allow links to external fanfics or sites. The best we can give you are the names of said fics, which can easily be searched up or looked around for. You can identify 'Remnant of a Iron Rose Shorts' by looking for the title, and looking for the bit where it says"Ptabs0101's 'Remnant of' universe" or something similar to it. Additionally, Neo and the Wolves Of Mars, as well as 'Mapping A Forgotten World' can be found in this manner.**

**As a reminder, you can all feel free to make fanfiction/art/ about Ptabs0101's 'Remnant of' universe(and we'd definitely share some art we've personally received for this from another author here to show it). We have no qualms about what you do or make, unless it is directly gets in the face of our plans for the future sequels that we may do. Like all other fanfiction, if your stuff gets in the way of our future plans, well, it's just tough luck.**

**Rebiele:Do you plan to purify Summer?**

**Diluation:Maybe we will, maybe we won't. Though I must say, it is rather interesting how they have veteran dialogue and newbie dialogue in Destiny 2, is it not? ; )**

**Mini:Just a thought but, dont fallen speak more of a broken/simplistic english? seems kinda inconsistent during this chapter, especially with Greig.**

**PS: Loving this version of Shaxx**

**Diluation:I was embracing my inner titan to do my best Shaxx impression for that.**

**As for Greig, he's more of a leader. And good leaders generally need to know how to talk to others more than fight.**

**With all that said and done, hopefully we can try and get back into writing on a normal schedule again. Expect more fore**_**shadow**_**ing and explosions next chapter!**

_**In memory of Ptabs0101 ~**_


	18. Merry Dawning:The Loot Under The Tree

**Diluation:Back from finals with this chapter, Merry Christmas all! We hope this gets to you before it is time for bed, wherever you may be, and that you Santa got you the gift you wanted. **

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Today was another day of Port's class. The students were awake, and watching with a little attention for a change, watching as the Port started the class. Some of them chuckled at the irony before them, while others simply didn't even bother to reminiscence about the past

Before-hand, sleeping in this class used to be a blessing to all. Beacon was, and still is one of the most prestigious academies. It also made it only available to those with a true passion in their hearts to protect humanity.

Now, they were worried Vex clouds were going to pop out of nowhere.

Despite this, most of the students were still worried about what they were going to be doing in the future. And Port noticed this, even as he mindlessly droned through a repeat of a past introduction he hadn't done in a while. Normally, a man such as himself would not dare to keep things stale. But he knew students tended to struggle in class. And now more than ever, he'd need to teach them better.

So he brought a little extra help.

"And so may I finally introduce, Fireteam Trinity!"

Three guardians then walked into the classroom, the students quickly getting hyped up for someone other than Port to come in and lecture them. The three guardians took it in stride, as they waved everyone down.

Once they all settled down, the leader, a titan, took the introduction. "It is truly a blessing from the Traveler to be here with you today and share with you our knowledge, future huntsmen and huntresses of Remnant."

"And while we cannot guarantee that you will be able to comprehend the intricacies of Hive arcana or the Vex algorithms-" The warlock started, but was cut off by the hunter.

"AKA, space zombies and those robots you fought earlier." The hunter said, ignoring the glare from the warlock for having gone off script. "We feel as if though we oughta explain ourselves first. Background and stuff like that, y'know? And, after we teach you some of our tricks, we'll leave you all some guardian-grade gear to play around with, considering the holidays."

The hunter motioned to the titan, as the students became excited at the prospect of guardian-grade equipment. "'O fearless leader?"

The titan sighed at the hunter's antics, while the warlock struggled to keep herself from going on a tirade against the hunter. He cleared his throat "We battled from planet to planet. To fend for the light, and stomp out the darkness. And we did this not out of self preservation." The titan lightly stomped the floor, as he hit his chest with his fist. "We did this for justice! For glory! For-"

"Loot?" One student asked, causing the titan to stop. A silence fell, everyone looking for the speaker as the titan and warlock scrambled for a comeback.

"I mean," The hunter spoke up before anyone could do anything. "He's not wrong. Plus all that fighting helps hone my dance moves!"

And thus began the students' series of questions regarding the loot they've found, the team quickly trying to deflect the questions and backtrack to their background.

They didn't want them finding out that most of their loot is stuff you could find in a cave within some random chest. Or in the holiday events. Or in public events that are incredibly easy to do if you have the gear and knowledge.

...They all collectively agreed that guardians need a pay-raise of loot.

00000

"I can't believe it's almost CHRISTMAS TIME!" Ruby shouted to the world, leaping up into the air in the middle of school grounds out of Christmas cheer, getting a few odd looks from students who didn't quite get why she needed to shout that to everyone around her. "Oooooh, I wonder what dad is going to send us this time?! Ooh! Maybe some weapon mods! Or-" She then began to prattle off about the potential possibilities of their gifts.

"I wonder if they even celebrate Christmas?" Blake idly pondered as she looked through some of the copied texts talking about what life before the collapse was like. It was fairly interesting to her how far they had come, especially since the black humans had the same problem as them in the past."It seems all they do now is shoot aliens."

She also had to wonder if this 'Elon Musk' had anything to do with the faunas as a whole, as the golden age book before her talked about him making cat girls. Which Blake knows people like her are sometimes called. Maybe the faunas did come from humans?

"Well, Summer DID do that Dawning thing a while back, even though it wasn't the official time for it." Yang offered as she read the book over Blake's shoulder. "Maybe their version of Christmas is them getting a visit from some big ol' titan named Saint... something, probably some exo number."

Her team looked at her, causing Yang to shrug. "Never been much for making up names."

"They did celebrate all the old holidays once a long time ago." RWBY looked behind them to see a rather old woman with yellow garbs and grey hair. With if not a very cheery smile. "Many still do."

"The team just looked at her, unsure of how to react to her sudden appearance.

"Goodness me. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Eva Levante. I'm the one who plans celebrations in the Last City." The old woman replied

"I'm sorry, I've never heard of you?" Yang asked as she looked the woman over. "Why haven't the guardians been talking about you lately if you plan them all?"

The woman paused for a moment, before chuckling. "Ah yes, it seems your mother had forgotten to mention of me when they met you. Little rascals her and them other guardians, always out there fighting the next battle." Eva cleared her throat. "I decided to come to Remnant as to help set it up for Beacon… and the world as well due to the Vex attack that happened a while ago. Guardians are still at large focused on grimm and Vex stragglers." Eva stated, rubbing her temples in exhaustion as she kept her practiced smile up.

"But didn't that already happen?" Weiss pointed out. "Summer did the event for us some time ago. I thought it was done over on Earth?"

"As the news report said back then, it was ahead of schedule. Summer actually did it two months before it was time to." She smiled at the thought Summer had for her. "She's nice, doing that for little ol' me. But she needs to be more aware of the time nowadays."

"Oh then ah…." Weiss stopped she noticed that it was starting to snow. "What in the…"

"Oh my. It's snowing already!" Eva said, as she looked up at the sky in wonder. "It seems as if the Traveler wants to pitch in here."

"Did those snowballs just rise out of the snow?" Blake asked, as she started to see small mounds of snow puff up into snowballs and rise into the air from the snow on the ground, like balls of ice. "Wait, there are giant snowballs the size of spheres coming out of the snow."

"Well ladies, allow me to introduce to you," Eva was about to continue, until a titan swept in and grabbed a couple snowballs, rushing past the huntresses and vendor.

"THAT WEAPON'S MINE!" The titan shouted down a corner, before throwing the two snowballs.

"...The Dawning." Eva sighed with a sigh, as the titan went back, preparing to talk to her. Instead of talking with the titan, though, Eva decided that now wasn't the best time to talk to them, as if what had just happened was a signal to her.

The team stood there, confused at what just happened.

Then, out of nowhere, dozens upon dozens of Guardians who got their day off came rushing through like a swarm, shoving the girls out of the way. Many of them conversed among themselves about where she was, what kind of loot she was selling, and what kind of bounties or challenges she'd have for them, all the while even more came in, the tide of guardians seemingly never-ending as they all chatted about something that was intelligible to everyone but Blake.

"...Well that was extremely rude." Blake said with no hesitation or lack of annoyance as she dusted herself off, looking straight at the groups of guardians with a glare before getting back to her book.

"Everyone, please follow me!" Eva shouted to them, as she went off to a plaza in town.

"What do you think she has in mind?" Ruby asked her friends, .

"Who knows. I overheard some of the Guardians as they sped by. Some of them saying they wanted an exotic weapon of sorts." Blake replied as she re-opened her book, and as a result, immediately heard movement while she was trying to read again.

"Well, not like we have any choice in the matter now." Yang pointed to where Ruby was, or rather the lack of her, as she left a petal trail in her wake as she lead the charge, managing to stay ahead of several titans equipped with Twilight Garrison, who were practically moving at the speed of cars.

"It'd be interesting anyhow." Weiss said with a smile, as she looked on. "We still need to learn about how guardians manage to put such unique effects into their weapons."

The group chuckled at the sight of their leader, someone who at a glance looks like a little girl, staying ahead of such a group, as they joined the horde of warlocks and hunters who were not far behind, everyone making their way to the exact same person.

00000

At Eva Levante's stand she waited for everyone to gather around. Huntsman, Huntress's, Guardians, hopefuls in training. She smiled as everyone gathered together.

"Greetings from the Tower. My name is Eva Levante. And I will be helping host this wonderful event throughout the winter months." She said with a smile. "We on Earth celebrate different Winter holidays be it from differing Religions or traditions. Simply put we call this the "Season of Dawning", An amalgamation of many winter holidays where we give gifts, and celebrate while the winter months are harsh. We have spring, and new life to look forward to. And to celebrate this momentous occasion. I've asked an armorer from Lord Shaxx's many old students to forge something unique for this Dawning season. An exotic worthy to be the very weapon to be here today to keep the flames strong!"

Eva then turned to her left and a Titan with bulky armor with a helmet that looked like it was frowning that had a red Visor, a rather large knife on his right shoulder guard, and multiple Magazine pouches on the chest armor. He pushed up several crates he then got a small crowbar and stabbed the crate where there was a slight gap and opened it.

However, unknown to the excited guardians and people of Remnant, silent whispers of contempt from several Guardians over their personal comms. Mostly for the artisan that stood beside Eva. The Guardian pulled out a light machine gun that looked incomplete. Which then caused some confusion and excitement. He then held it up, as Eva spoke.

"This is the 'Weapon of Dawning' reward. An exotic quest fit for the season!" Eva said. "This will be given out to those whom complete several tasks before it is given. Made with Remnants own great Steels and Iron. Forged by Lord Shaxx's greatest student."

"IT'S INCOMPLETE! Why should we trust the craftsmanship of a neophyte!?" shouted a Warlock, who was none too pleased at the lack of an actual weapon to work with.

"Do you even know what a quest is, you nitwit kinderguardian?!" shouted another warlock in defense, moreover caring for the collection of the weapon itself rather than its functionality. "SIT DOWN AND LISTEN!"

And, just like that, the guardians broke out into complete and utter chaos as two sides quickly formed over such a detail. Within the next moment, guardians everywhere were insulting or belittling each other rather loudly, and after that, it became an unsolicited, highly illegal guardian firefight. Titans fought each other or beat the hunters and warlocks to a pulp, the warlocks slapping each other or trying to bring everyone back to reason, while the hunters kept going for low blows or shotgunning each other as they sporadically jumped around like apes. Huntsmen and huntresses tried to assist the few that were trying to keep the fighting down, as well as bringing citizens and children alike to safety.

All the while, RWBY just stood there in complete utter shock at how quickly things had turned for the guardians. What had once been naught but a professional group of guardians awaiting a debriefing of the quest, now became a bunch of immortal children with guns, fighting over a gun that they may or may not have wanted in the first place.

But to Eva, this was just another Tuesday, as she looked upon the crowd of mad guardians who continued their chaotic in-fighting, some dancing on another's corpse in glee. She had hoped that they would show some more maturity in the face of a new world with a new civilization seeing them as heroes, but it seems as if though things never change.

And the sad part was, this wasn't even war she was seeing here.

So, with but a quick text to all the huntsmen and huntresses to cover everyone's ears, and a snap of her fingers, two large boom speakers came out of the ground and blasted, at full volume, the sounds of pots and pans being banged together, instantly snapping the guardians out of it as they all instinctively covered their ears.

Eva Levante looked upon the crowd of once more peaceful guardians, before clearing her throat. "If you are still listening, you will not only discover more as to why we celebrate the winter holidays, but you will grow as a 'defender of humanity' through the weapon." She emphasized that with a tone that of which was a disappointed mother, causing all guardians involved to flinch in shame. "The weapon plans were found in a weapons factory that hasn't been touched by Fallen or Hive. One of the few remaining provinces that haven't been touched by the forces of Darkness. As you complete this weapon, you will hear an ancient hymn. Sung by its native people in languages once thought to be dead. As you listen to it, Take it to heart. For we were all like the natives of the land I have found these plans from, the place of which you'll learn as you go. Complete this weapon. And you will find no better ally."

"Now then, who wishes to be the first to want to complete this quest?" Eva asked among the crowd.

The guardians seemed to quickly lose interest after all of that, some muttering in disappointment and blindly flung anger over having to do another grind for a weapon that they may not even want, while the huntsmen and huntresses stayed interested, but conversed over whether or not they had the time for it. Ruby looked at her teammates to see if they would like to join her on this weapon's quest. Yang gave a thumbs up while Blake shrugged. Weiss didn't show any sign of such, and once her eyes were on her, she raised her peace.

"As long as we have time to do so, or the school will allow us as much time as we need to get the weapon, I'm fine with it."

Yang groaned at the thought, seemingly put down by the ice princess's attitude as Ruby scratched the back of her head. "Right, thanks for the reminder Weiss."

With bated breath, she raised her hand. Eva looked over the sea of people and smiled.

"Just like her mother… always wanting the gun before anyone else." Eva muttered to herself with a smile, before motioning her to come up.

Ruby looked around with her peripheral vision and saw a lot of surprised faces. And a lot of raised eyebrows, with the ones in question having some suspicion. The Titan took the weapon from the stand it was on and walked down the steps from Eva's stand, passing it to Ruby. It looked like a rustic piece of equipment. Ruby walked forward a little more and placed her hands one the forward and pistol grip of the weapon taking it from the Titan.

"May you succeed in completing the weapon. The steps to do so will go to your scroll." The titan said.

Ruby held it up and smiled as she felt like the weapon brought peace of mind. She then turned around to walk away. But she looked at the Titan and smiled at him.

"Thank you. And Merry Christmas." Ruby stated.

"And Merry Christmas to you to little one." The titan replied as he then returned to Eva's side.

"Now then, LET THE DAWNING BEGIN!" Eva shouted, as the guardians came upon her for bounties, and with gifts in hand for her being the one to prepare and host this event like always.

Ruby returned to her friends who looked at the weapon skeptically.

"You sure you wanna do it Rubes?" Yang asked.

"Of course I want all of us to do it!" Ruby smiled.

Three scrolls then went off, causing all of her teammates to check their phones.

Weiss sighs in annoyance. "Sorry Ruby, change of plans. Dad's been at it again."

"And I forgot I promised Sun that I would help with planning something today, sorry." Blake replied and they both left.

"Sorry Rubes. I gotta go to Shaxx. One if moms upgrades decided not work and this is the only time he's available." Yang said as she left to the new armory built into the school.

"Oh….." Ruby let out with a sigh, feeling lonely as her teammates currently had other stuff planned for the day. It was then that Summer had transmatted out of her ship, eager to catch the exotic weapon that Eva was offering.

She frowned, having only found her daughter being all alone and with an incomplete machine gun. The sight was quite horrifying. She'd never want her daughter to hold a broken gun.

So she asked even though she knew the problem, deciding to help her get rid of such a saddening sight of a weapon by whatever means necessary. "Why so glum, Ruby?"

She jumped, having not spotted Summer transmatting out of her ship. "Oh everyone's so busy with their own things. I wanted to do this weapon quest with them that Eva gave me, but everyone had things they needed to go to..." Ruby shuffled a little nervously, her eyes anywhere but Summer at that very moment.

_...Well, ok, not the problem I expected there to be. _

Summer looked at the weapon for a while, now having realized that this is what Eva put out for the Dawning. Seeing as it would be unfair to Ruby to get the quest done without help, or tools like hers, she smiled and looked at her. It was a fair exchange, after all, and it'd also count as her getting the gun too since the completed weapon could be reversed for the schematic.

Plus, family bonding! This could help deal with those nightmares Ruby had definitely been having, so it was practically a triple down since she'd get to keep her record!

Deciding to be casual in her approach as to not scare Ruby out of not letting her help, she asked. "Would you like me to help with that?"

Her eyes lit up in hope as they flicked over to Summer. She stared at her for a moment in doubt, as if she was expecting her to suddenly take back her word. And while she didn't outright show it, Summer was nervous as well, hoping that what happened wouldn't cause the two to be unable to work together. That maybe helping her make the weapon was bringing the memories back of Crescent Rose going through her too much.

Eventually, she ended up giving her a big ol' bear hug, launching herself at her in a flurry of red petals. Though since Ruby was bigger than her, the two ended up tumbling onto the ground, Summer's smaller frame not having been prepared for the surprise hug.

"Yesyesyesyesyesyesyes!"

"H-hey! Easy, easy Ruby!" Summer said with a chuckle as she forced her and Ruby up. Ruby realized this, and attempted to pull back and apologize, but Summer returned the hug before she could. With a smile, the mother and daughter hugged each other, savoring their embrace for a moment.

That was, until Summer spotted the vast amount of blood, ash, bullet casings, scorch marks and dead bodies behind Ruby.

Summer had to pause completely at the sight for a moment, before almost shouting. "Was Xur selling Gjallarhorn here or something?! What happened here, Ruby?"

00000

Eva Levante sighed in exasperation after several hours of setting up guardians with quests and bounties. Her legs ached for having to stand up straight for so long, her fingers cramping from having to constantly use her datapad just to give guardians their bounties, and a couple burns from guardians improperly using the ovens.

But on the plus side… she has an absolute overflow of treats from helping guardians learn how to cook certain treats for others. Things like the Gjallardoodles, Strange Cookies, and… Dark Chocolate Motes?

Sometimes, she had to wonder why people make dark chocolate in the form of motes of light. She never understood why so many guardians love chocolate so much, frankly it was overrated to her.

"You holding up well Eva?" Frederick asked

He had just given the second Quest weapon away to a different Guardian. But only the second model of the first quest step.

"Oh, I'm doing fine old friend." She sighed as she took a seat at a table, munching on some of the delicacies. "Just a long day's work is all."

"Don't push yourself too hard." Fred replied as he noticed four individuals coming. With a warm smile he greeted them. "Hello there."

Coco looked at him up and down, and with a slight tilt of her sunglasses.

"So; what's this stuff the guardians got all crazy about over here?" The leader of Team CFVY asked

"Coco be a little nicer! They're guardians!" Velvet let out with a little whine, before clearing her throat. "We're team CFVY sir."

Yastuashi and Fox stood behind the girls just simply being quiet and minding their own business.

Eva gasped at the sight of Coco's attire. "My word!" She then stood up and walked over to her, scanning her all over. "You have such great taste in fashion. Truly give off a powerful, rich feeling with those clothes!"

"She's just wearing a brown sweater with black skinny jeans and a Hand bag with 7.62 Nato Belt links for an actual belt. Not to mention that hat is just an old military cover." Frederick stated as if the whole thing was no big deal.

"Just black jeans and a brown sweater?" Eva looked to Frederick with wide eyes. "Oh my dear friend, you simply do not understand! Look at how the colors compliment each other, the long, cocoa-colored shirt with the cincher! The black jeans certainly give off a sense of power, energy and mystery combined with the brown. And the way she just brazenly carries her ammo around in such a fashionable manner!"

"Never saw why women where into fashion. waste of money if you ask me. She just looks like one of those pictures my granddaughter made when she was 3." The titan replied.

"Heh," Coco said with a smirk, as she looked at Frederick. "Clearly you don't army boy."

The holiday planner and Remnant fashionista then went away from the fashion-insensitive titan to chat about each other's clothing, shaders, and other combinations that they could potentially add, both sides interested to know of the other's culture and arts styles. Velvet looked at them with a little concern on her face, as they walked away.

"Oh good grief this is gonna take forever." Frederick sighs

Barloc then came in, about to ask Eva something, before realising she's gone. "Hm? Where's the holiday planner?"

"Busy Barloc. And it's probably going to be a while." Frederick replied

"Ah," Barloc said in realization, before deciding to sit down at the table. "Well, it's a holiday. Which means no work for me, and Cayde had already ditched me to go kill of hordes of grimm with the other guardians…" He then pulled out a chess game called 'Game Of Remnant' before smiling. The game itself was not a up-to-date one, having being a previous edition where the guardians weren't suddenly included in the mix.

"Any of you interested in a game? Though I doubt you'll compare to my wits."

"Why the hell not?" Frederick said with a shrug, as he took a seat, getting ready to play.

Barloc looked at Frederick with a raised eyebrow, before shrugging. "Ehhh, you'd just be a time killer. Why not?" Barloc witlessly gauged Frederick's capabilities over, seeing as he was just a titan. "Velvet, yes? Serve as the ref, ensure all the moves we make are perfectly legal via reading the instruction manual."

That estimation of Frederick would quickly prove to be his biggest mistake in the first game against him, while Fox and Yastuashi decided to see how the two guardians would handle the game itself, since it only exists on Remnant.

00000

After a brief, awkward explanation of what exactly seemed to have taken place, Summer came to the conclusion that veteran guardians are very weird. She was usually a little late to all the events, but she had never seen such a mess happen out of the blue.

Then again, this is probably why the Vanguard was formed. To stop guardians from causing these sort of messes and accidental public endangerment.

"Well that was an odd event anyways what's the first step Ruby?" Summer asked, eager to get the show on the road.

Ruby then looked at her scroll and was about to read aloud but Drei spoke up, uncloaking before the two.

"How about I read them aloud?" Drei stated. "I've already downloaded it after all. And I've already fully translated the harder to understand bits."

"Oh well I guess that takes care of one problem. Go ahead." Ruby replied

"Hum...that's odd there's that Language thing that Frederick mentioned. Here I'll l play it. It's apparently from something I can't remember the name of." Drei said

"Wait you know who that titan is, Drei?"

"His craftsmanship often involves dead languages as his motif when he makes exotics. Summer here has them all." Drei replied, not being subtle with that last fact.

"Totally earned them all legitimately." Summer added on oh-so innocently.

"Summer, you brought a cup of Nova Bolts from that vending machine you made to the guy that wasn't giving you Icebreaker back then, threatening to blow both him and the weapon up."

"I still earned it legitimately!"

He rolled his eye, before then playing the audio file.

"ya 'ayuha tati 'iimanuil , wa'iisrayiyl al'asirat alfidiyat , alty taneaa fi almanfaa wahidaan huna hataa yuzhir abn allah , nafrah 'iimanuil , yjb 'an yati 'iilayk ya 'iisrayiyl."

"That sounded weird yet… still very warm." Ruby stated noting the odd language

"It says "Hope in a hundred years Winter", Kill 100 Beowolves from the Emerald forests." Drei began. "There's a bit of flavor text Here. It says that this is an pre-golden age IWI Negev V1 SF model."

"IWI? What's that?"

"It's a shorter way of saying 'Israeli Weapons Industries'. Frederick must have been back to his old hunting grounds if he managed to get this old piece of tech." Drei said aloud, before turning to Summer. "Remember when he gave you the quest to make a Micro Tavor to get you to leave his shop?"

Drei was all too smug to see Summer's face blush so red that she quickly put on her helmet for a change.

00000

Barloc was surprised at the sudden display of intellect from Frederick. He didn't expect what he first thought to be a simple meathead being completely able to play a game of both dice and chess against him.

Moreover prove a viable challenge, as he then learned too late that Frederick wasn't simply an adrenaline junkie titan, that ate literal concrete for the sole purpose of trying to become stronger. He always found it odd how some titans would try that. Then again, it falls in line with typical titan behavior.

"You're not as dumb as you look." Barloc couldn't help but say, as his kingdom was swiftly reduced to naught but ashes by Frederick's plays and little luck, making the score 0-1. "Normally your kind is all muscle but little brain."

"Not every titan is a crayon eating meathead, master of chess… or so you claim~." Frederick replied back playfully.

In the background, a warlock was chewing out a local cryptarch for giving him a blue armband. The armband in question was about 15 grades lower than his already high-end gear, as he preached about how he risks life and limb to protect humanity, which included him.

"Hmph. A simple mis-underestimation." Barloc replied back, before resetting the board. "Same rules, same time counter of 30 seconds. You do well to play as seriously as I do this time, because I'm not just going to be played like a fool again. This time I shall start actually doing the math and starting trying to sense patterns here."

Frederick shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't mind losing. warlock. It just helps me study you better."

"On the contrary, you will not be able to understand my in-person battle tactics. Chess and battle are completely different scenarios, as one is about strategy, while the other is the same, but with physical factors present."

"Still. Even if I only come close to beating you. You wouldn't understand how I come so close by simple observations of the board."

Barloc chuckled at the childish thought of him not being able to figure out how he got close. "All things are simply but numbers and data… now-" Barloc then rolls for initiative, now taking the battle of strategic minds seriously as he rolls the dice in an extremely calculated way to practically guarantee him the first move.

Then, the warlock in the background tackled the cryptarch, beating him with a rare engram. Barloc looked over quickly, only to pause at the robes and familiar blue skin.

"...Should we really stop this to help Master Rahool?"

Frederick paused as well to look at what Barloc was looking at. "...Nah, that guy's not worth the trouble for someone like him."

A titan teammate whispered something to a friend of his, which got said warlock to throw a fusion grenade at his face. The titan cursed before getting blown up.

"Fair point. A million gifts would never be enough for him to give an exotic anyhow. Master Ives, though..." Barloc fondly remembered the reef cryptarch's generosity, and the small collection of exotics he got from him.

It was then Lux came in, seeing the scenario before her. Seeing that Eva wasn't around, she took a seat. "Mind if I join in?"

The titan and warlock allowed Lux to join in without a second thought, seeing as the game was early enough for more to join and make a 4-player game.

00000

In the wilds of the Emerald forests, a peaceful Beowolf sniffed the air, thinking it smelled a human. Shrugging it off it continues to try finding prey to rip and tear to shreds, as it begins to stalk away. Only to make the most basic mistake of low-level grimm. Not looking up. Then a round pierced its Bone like skull. Dropping it like it was nothing.

"And that should be the last kill." Drei said, updating the objectives list as he sorted into the next thing to do to complete the gun. "Parts are coming into my data storage right now since we've linked her quest with us. I'll transmat it onto the weapon since it comes with the manual, and is also able to be straight up attached onto it."

"Nice shot Ruby!" Summer cheered with a thumbs up, looking at Ruby with a smile on her face.

"Ok, weapon's done upgrading... with a different model?" Drei slowly let out the last part in surprise, as he detected something emanating from the weapon.

The weapon glowed in Ruby's hands changing to a different shade of black and steel. And it felt a bit heavier. Drei scanned it and is just put off by it.

"Its now a IWI NG 7 V2. There's two Audio files playing them now."

"Ó, cóng sādàn de bàozhèng zhōng jiětuō chūlái de jié xī gǎn, cóng nín de bǎixìng suǒ zhěngjiù dì dìyù shēn chù lái, shǐ tāmen zài fénmù shàng huòshèng. Huānxǐ, huānxǐ, yǐ mǎ nèi lì, yǐsèliè rén yīng lái zhǎo nǐ."

"It's strange…. it's like this hymn was purposely placed here. Playing the other file now."

"Did you know there was once a holiday called Christmas back in the golden age? My village celebrated it with a passion. I will never forget the joy I had as a child in that life... they may have taken everything from me. My family, my friends, all I hold dearest to me. But even then, we still had hope. Hope that this eternal winter would end on our world."

Summer and Ruby recognized the voice.

"That's definitely Frederick. I never knew him to be so open about his past though..." Summer said aloud.

Ruby nodded. "And Christmas came from Earth as well? I thought we just invented it, since here the grimm are kinda tied into it."

"The Quest step is updating now. It's called… that's rather dark, it's called 'the other side'". It says that only Ruby can tell her biggest secret. And regrets. Alone. Then to kill 50 Alphas anywhere on the planet. I guess it's Fred's way of letting people know that it's ok to tell someone something that seems like it's important or something." Drei replied.

Summer, of course, already knew of Ruby's biggest regret. But admittedly for her, she wanted to know the former a lot more, as she doesn't really know of her daughter much, other that she knows she's most definitely her's. With the exception of the height difference, one could practically say it was like a mirror had appeared in her day to day life. A mirror of herself.

Except it wasn't.

But that never got in the way of caring for her newfound family. And hey, maybe one day she could get Yang to like her a little more!

She hummed in thought as she looked to Drei. "That apply to both the deepest regret and secrets?"

"Ummm…" Ruby fidgeted a bit. "I-I don't think you should listen in on the latter. No, actually both, don't listen to-"

Summer held a hand up. "Sweetie, I already know you deeply regret having killed me back there. I may be a guardian, but that doesn't mean we don't see non-guardians go through similar things."

Ruby blinked owlishly. "You mean you saw someone else get stabbed by their own daughter?"

Summer rubbed the back of her head at the miscommunication. "I mean, I've seen people suffer loss. It's- pretty much a no-brainer that you've probably got that on your mind, especially since I've been gone for so long..." She mentally cursed herself. _Dang it… that came out so awkward..._

Ruby sighs in a saddened manner. But she nods. She looks at the weapon. But she then heard whispers... whispers where of comfort rather than persecution. With a renewed heart she looks dead in Summer's eyes.

Summer smiled back. "I know a hundred times saying it may never make it go away… but I just want you to know, there was no hard feelings about it. I didn't expect it. You didn't expect me to be fighting Qrow, or knew it was me. And everything is still ok."

And while on the inside of Summer's mind, she desperately wished she had practiced this before-hand. She found it amazing how, after all this time, she never properly confronted the issue.

She nodded at that, as she readied herself for the next part. "I'm ready for this next step alone." Ruby stated, ready to tackle the next challenge head-on.

Summer nodded, and looked to Drei. "So again, this for both parts, or just the regrets bit?"

"Just the regrets and secrets, of which she still has to do. Killing Alphas are what you both can do together. But this part she needs to do alone." Drei replied.

Summer nods as she looks back to Ruby.

"I'm only a call away. I'll still be close, but far enough for you to have sufficient space." Summer said.

Ruby just smiles and nods.

"Thanks mom." Ruby replied

Summer smiles and nods before leaving to her ship just above the forests. Ruby sighs as she looks at the weapon.

"Ok…..how do I do this?" Ruby thought to herself, as she sat down, holding the weapon.

But then the weapon glowed; and light engulfed her.

00000

Ruby opened her eyes and found herself in a white open space. She heard gunshots shots behind her and when she turned around. She saw it again. That blasted night replaying in front of her. She reacted. She ran to stop herself from delivering the killing blow. But instead she only made the blade of Crescent Rose slice Summer in half rather than impale her.

Ruby looked at her hands in horror. Blood stained them again. This always happens. Again and again and again. Looking up she saw Summer's dead eyes look at her. Her mouth moved ever so slowly. But she could always tell what they said.

"Why?"

That question always made her think. Why did she attack her own mother? She then heard Summer's voice.

"Ruby?"

She turned around, not expecting Summer to suddenly be behind her. "Mom?"

Summer just looked at her with dead eyes like that from the previous corpse. She held up a knife from nowhere and handed to Ruby with a twisted smile.

"Its ok Ruby… you can kill as many times as you like." She then started to lead Ruby's hand to her, the knife still in her grasp

"No!" She tried to let go of the knife, but it was like her hand was glued to it, and when she tried to pull, Summer just proved to be too strong, as she calmly kept leading it to her chest, all she kept crying for it to stop. "I don't want to do it again! STOP!"

She closed her eyes again. Keeping them shut. But for the moment. When she opened them up. She was on a sandy beach. The sounds of birds sung in her ears and the crashing waves in front of her seemed...peaceful. like this was supposed to be. She just felt heavy just having to relive those nightmares again. She then heard a growl.

Turning around she saw a lion with a rather beautiful mane looking at her ever so closely. She, as if on instinct, bowed before it. As if its presence was meant to be respected like a True king of the woods. The Lion looked like it was smiling… well, as well as a lion could.

"Ruby. Why do you doubt that your mother hasn't forgiven you for your actions that night?" The lion spoke.

Ruby was surprised by the talking animal. But she felt its presence rather being warmly.

"It's just ...it's just hard…..why would she forgive me?"

The Lions smile grew ever bigger.

"Because she's your mother. And a mother always loves her cubs. No matter the fault in there stars. Walk with me." The Lion said.

Ruby got up and walked beside the Lion.

"Ruby. There is a deeper light more powerful and more potent to the creatures of Darkness that only a few of your kind know exist. Do you know what it is?" The Lion asked.

"My silver eyes?" Ruby replied.

The lion seems to be amused at that. "No, young one. It is love. Take for example of the Dawning. It's meant to spread love in the foggy mist of darkest times. It is love that binds everyone together. And it's because of love, that your mother has forgiven you of your fault. It is not easily broken by a simple act or a word."

"But…" Ruby started but she choked on her words.

"You doubt your value?" The lion asked, though its intentions were not meant to belittle her..

"Its just… I still can't believe she forgave me so quickly." Ruby replied.

"Remember Ruby. It takes more then the weight of Atlas's sore shoulders to make you unloved. For you we're blessed with a mother who can and will forgive others. While others only hide in there self made chains of bitterness and demons." The Lion replied. "Never forget who you are."

00000

"Ruby? Ruby!" Summer's voice called out, as she shook her.

Ruby woke up from her mother's shaking.

"Ruby!? Oh thank the Traveler I thought you were gone!" Summer sighed with relief.

"How long was I out?" Ruby asked rubbing her eyes.

"Nearly an hour." Summer stated, and a small silence fell before them, before she narrowed her eyes in worry. "Now, what exactly happened? Did anything get inside your head? Are you-" Summer began to put out a stream of questions one would expect from a concerned mother.

Ruby could only smile.

"I'm fine… and mom?"

"Yes Ruby?"

"Thank you...and...I'm happy you forgave me."

Summer smiled as well.

00000

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU ! #$ING HAVE A FLOCK OF NEVERMORES, YOU & $%^MN C^%#?!" Lux practically screeched out in a rage, after having been demolished by it again for the 3rd time in a row.

"This is an outrage!" Barloc accused Frederick, who had simply kicked back and relaxed. "You must be cheating to keep getting such a consistent result on her!"

"Actually I've been keeping track. He's done this fair and square." Velvet said in a calm and very polite way as to not agitate the two warlocks

"Oh don't mind me. I love the praising insults. Mind telling me how I'm a titan who eats Crayons again? Einsteins?" Frederick replied with a playful smug look under his helmet, he's never really had a poker face when having fun destroying arrogant Warlocks.

Barloc merely grit his teeth and brought his focus back to the game, while Lux streamed a series of censored curse words at Frederick. Velvet only sighs with a poker smile of embarrassment having to ref the group of Guardians. Of which two were acting like children.

The game which was first 1-0, was now 6-6-4, with the last number being Lux ever since she joined in. At first the games were going heavily in the warlocks favors, but it then took a sharp turn for Frederick, who was managing to get even more wins, with Lux time and time again getting swept away by nevermores. Since the score limit was 7, the game came down to the wire. Frederick's armies weren't in good shape, and neither was Barloc's, his army having taken a decent hit as well. It was all coming down to pure strategy and crucial thinking at this point.

Tensions ran high. The heat so intense that it was even hotter than Yang's hair when she was angry. Heat so powerful one could swear something was turning to toast somewhere in the area.

And the tension was stabbed at, as Summer and Ruby came in expecting to see Eva Levante. They certainly didn't expect Barloc, Lux, and Frederick to all be in an intense chess game.

"What are you guys-"

"QUIET KINDERGUARDIANS!" Barloc curtly shouted at the two, as he focused on his cards and pieces. After a very long moment of deciding his move, he moves his Ace Ops armed with ships into a part of Vacuo, Frederick's Kingdom, hoping to end the game by catching him in a checkmate. He lays down a card, Geist, one of the strongest event cards in the game. "Check," He rolls. "And a 20."

"Good move, very good move." Frederick replied

He looked at his hand several sand illusion event cards that could help cover his base and assets, and hit Barloc with a surprise attack by also playing his base's trap card. Anti Aircraft turrets as well as his several unused power bonus Mortar men Cards for his Infantry units. He smiled, but seeing that Barloc and Lux had their ass's handed to him on a silver platter he decided to ultimately play a different role.

"Alright I play my Infantry power bonus Mortar men and.." Frederick purposefully rolled the dice to get a low number. "And a 10, you lost only two capital ships while your Carrier flies over my forces and decimates my base… good game warlock."

Still over his head with relief and mental exhaustion, he sighed victoriously before looking at Lux with a smile. "And you call yourself a warlock."

Lux glared at him. "#$%^& he totally gave you that!"

"What's that? All I hear is inferior intellect." He then turned to Frederick. "Good game. I did not anticipate such skill, but you were no match for my expert rolling of dice and intellect. A close one for certain." He then got up to talk to Summer and Ruby.

"So, what's this new exotic quest Eva made everyone freak out about?" He asked Ruby in particular. "I had dozens of calls coming through as I played this game with Frederick, and needed to call in a clean up crew as well as reprimand dozens of guardians for starting a firefight in a public space." He then crossed his arms, his irritation coming in full. "And that's not even counting having to talk with elected officials because of vast immaturity."

"Yeah they got mad because Frederick didn't complete the weapon. But we did!" Ruby replied.

"Intriguing… Drei, mind sending me the details?" Barloc asked Drei, curious as to the specifications.

"The last step requires Fred to Infuse his light into the completed frame." Drei said as he came out and placed the weapon on the table, while also sending the details to Barloc, who got it on his scroll.

"Ah I see. So how was it you two?" Frederick replied picking up the weapon and smiled.

Barloc squinted his eyes at a particular step for a moment, as if confused.

"Something wrong Barloc?" Frederick asked the warlock, as he walked over to him curious as to what Barloc got upset about.

"What kind of fairy tale garbage is this?" He pointed at the step that said 'reveal your deepest secrets and regrets'. "Am I suppose to tell it I've had anal or something?"

Ruby and Summer just stared slack jawed at Barloc that he would even say such a thing in the presence of virgin ears of the Roses.

Barloc merely looked at them. "What? You hear sex jokes all the time in cartoons and stuff similar to it. Sometimes even outright said in certain shows because the writing is sloppy, and the writers keep trying to get out of their audience's age rating."

"Not the ! #$ing Point you brain dead egghead." Lux stated crossing her arms while looking at Freds discarded hand of the game they had just played.

"Hold on a second, I wanna see how that works." Barloc suddenly took the gun and held it, as if expecting something to happen.

"Hey Barloc. Wanna hand back the gun? I can't do it if your fu- …holding it." Frederick stopped himself from cursing, remembering he's not supposed to do that around Summer.

"I just want to see this step for myself. Besides, how long could it possibly-" A bright light suddenly engulfed the area, blinding everyone for a moment as Barloc fell to the floor.

00000

Barloc stood, confused beyond words at what just happened. He checked himself for damage, finding he didn't have arc burns all over his own body, and he knew that he didn't hear the sound of a titan flying up next to him and popping a bubble, either. "Hmmm… so that wasn't a flashbang grenade." He then looked around, seeing nothing but burning buildings all around him and the lion.

The lion was staring at him, as if it expected him to say something. Barloc sensed this, and went straight ahead, thinking it was the step. "I regret not having the ability to perform my duty to the fullest."

The lion just kept staring at him.

Barloc paused, unsure of what else to say. "What? It's true, I don't have my light or ghost, so I can't go as far as I used to."

"And yet, you still lie."

Barloc once more paused at that. "...I beg your pardon?!" He let out in irritation and indignance, having just been called a liar by some strange entity he didn't even know.

The lion simply turned away. "It is not my place to say if one must take burdens out of obligation. But until you stay true to yourself, we have no further business."

"Now hold on just a-"

00000

Barloc awoke with a jolt, having been only out for a dozen seconds or so as he swiftly got up. He glared at the weapon for a bit, before handing it to Frederick. "Well that was something. Carry on." He then walked off.

"What the ! %# just happened?" Lux said out of confusion.

"Oh he probably just got rejected by the ... never mind. Now then. On to the last step." Frederick stated as he infused his light into the weapon.

Then another blinding light occurred. When the light died down. The weapon was Solid black with golden details of magnificent designs of roses. on the Magazine it had a Red Lion on it's hind legs Roaring as if pouncing on something. Frederick smiled as he then handed the gun to Ruby.

"Use it well little Rose. This weapon is your life." Frederick said smiling all the way underneath his helmet.

"Thank you sir. And thanks for being a good friend to my mother." Ruby replied excited to try out the new Gun she has.

"You're welcome." Frederick, happy at someone, his friend's daughter nonetheless, having completed a quest.

"And without further ado," Summer then pulled Ruby aside with a crazed grin. "Let's tear this thing apart so we could give this a MECHA-SHIFTING MODE!"

"OH MY GOD THAT SOUNDS AMAZING!"

The Roses then squealed in excitement as they bolted off, fully intent on adding a mecha-shift function. Probably something along the lines of a shield, sword combo.

Barloc sighed at their antics. "Kids these days…"

Lux just shrugs as she thrusts Fred's cards into his chest. Confused, Barloc looked at them. He looked at Frederick. Then back at the cards. Then back to Frederick.

…

Barloc promptly left the room, no longer caring about talking to Eva as she and Coco then came in, still talking about whether or not chroma should go and be removed since acquiring the materials was tedious.

00000

It was the dawn of Christmas that Remnant day. Cayde was still out shooting bad guys, Barloc had fallen asleep on his desk from overworking himself again, the students were getting up and ready for a day of holiday fun, and most importantly, the guardians were already back to slaying Grimm and Vex alike. Things were continuing to rise higher and higher for what was once a troubled world, with the grimm threat held back by those of the Traveler's light, as technology was slowly working its way up to Earth's standards.

And it was on this day, that she had planned something special. Something that would blow everyone out of the water. Months before the actual Dawning event, she'd heard about how everyone makes milk and cookies for 'Santa Claus' on Remnant, as a way of giving thanks to him for the gifts.

It was challenging and tedious, having to wait so long to even start it, flying her ship about in a way she couldn't have been spotted heading anywhere. Especially when she had to respond to distress calls on the way at times just so nobody would die. Those constantly left a trail to follow and hint at her motives. But in the end, she made it.

With her final target just a dozen feet away, she smiled and left a present behind the door. Just as the phone rang for him.

She teleported away as Barloc woke up, answering the phone. Before he could even get a word out, Cayde-6 spoke on the other side of the line. "Do you have cookies behind your door?"

Barloc blinked groggily, not entirely sure whether or not if Cayde had ingested some LSD during his travels. Regardless, he put the phone to the side and stood up. "I'll check." He said, not really caring for Cayde's reply as he went to the office door, opening it to find the present that was left behind. Confused, but not exactly worried, he brought it in. "Yeah, there was something behind the door alright."

Barloc idly opened it as he tried to continue, but when he opened the present, a cookie burst out of it and went into his mouth. Shocked, he was only able to think about chewing it, before eventually savoring the taste. When he was done, he smiled to himself. "I gather this is her doing?"

"She violated rule regarding cookies, and she didn't even include me on it!" Cayde said in exasperation. "Why didn't I get any? Literally the whole world but me?!"

"To be fair Cayde, this box of cookies IS at your office, so technically she gave them to you." Barloc idly said, as he took a bite out of another cookie. "And, you are a hard man to track down. Truthfully, this is all your fault. Perhaps if you were more of a man of work instead of action, you'd have these cookies."

"Oh you better not be thinking about-" Barloc promptly hung up, chuckled to himself for teasing Cayde in such a manner, and then put the cookies in a mini fridge… but not before taking a couple more for himself.

He wasn't surprised to have found out that Whitley and Jacques got Burnt Edge Transits, as they called him demanding to do something about Summer insulting them with such gifts. And he'd have to ask Summer later precisely what kind of cookies did she leave for Salem, who has lately been brushed off to the side as a lesser target.

Probably a literal food pun about grimm dogs, for all he knew.

00000

**Diluation:And that's our Christmas special! Sorry for the lack of updates, math class was a huge pain in the butt as well as the finals. Normally after stuff like that I'd be a dead fish, but I didn't wanna leave you guys hanging for two more weeks before getting back into school. For reference on when this actually takes place, it takes place in some future chapters as an interlude that we will move up there later(since the Dawning takes place three months after the start of Rise of Iron.).**

**The last chapter I did not mean for Cayde to be thinking a Taken Queen Summer is starting up. I was actually aiming for a subtle mental health check, and probably should've restated some things that some of you may have missed since they were dozens of chapters back.**

**Summer, out of the blue, just got a family with her own daughter having recently killed her, which puts a lot of strain on anyone, especially if the thing is supposed to be impossible.**

**Had to deal with a whole Vex invasion alone until the very end of the first story.**

**Nearly lost her newfound daughter Ruby to said Vex.**

**Encounter with the dredgens.**

**And almost immediately being thrust into another war that could potentially affect Remnant, which in turn could affect Ruby and potentially doom the city again.**

**Which is a lot of pressure to put on a guardian that's only been around for 3 years now, and with the things that happened to her before-hand as well. It is an issue that needed to be raised, and as such I- ...actually y'know what? Onto the reviews, I'm rambling.**

Miniatimat:An Idea that crossed my mind regarding the hub for Remnants of a Rose stories I talked about the last chapter. Maybe you could mark them as favourite on your profile?

**Diluation:That is currently a WIP, thank you for the idea. I am currently trying to set it up as a top-bottom thing, with bottom being the ones that are more side-stories, like Mapping A Forgotten World, and Neo And The Wolves Of Mars, and top from where to start first. Some stories that are canon are still being thoroughly edited before being declared official, so there are some I'd rather you not see **_**yet, **_**but would definitely be worth a read when sorted through.**

Timefreak:poor fallen. I believe that I now have a newfound respect for them. my suggestion to Summer (or now addressed as "Lady Rose" fancy by the way) is to go back to the tower and gather the most trustworthy and powerful Guardians that she knows. and on another note, seeing that Frederick showed up in this, will the possibility of Guardian Jack will make an appearance?

**Diluation:We haven't really gotten into contact with the writer there(I hadn't sent him a Discord[we talk there], idk why I didn't think of him even now), but I'm fairly certain Guardian Jack would be too busy mapping the world with the other hunters than getting into affairs here… (make sure you check that story out btw, Mapping A Forgotten World is actually pretty good! Just a busy author whose life threw him 5 miles away from the story.)**

The Unnamed: When describing Frederick I thought you guys were describing Emile from Reach

**Anime Guy:I could kinda see the resemblance, but it is in fact not Emile's armor Frederick is wearing. The knife is what caused the confusion I suppose, as well as Halo armor and Destiny armor being similar in design to each other at times.**

**Diluation:Thank you all for being immensely patient with me. I would've written, hell, I've been itching to do the Sepiks Prime strike(I've had it in my head and how it'd go for a while now.), but math required my full attention, lest my GPA get hit hard(I ended up with a B, and just barely missed staying on the Dean's list.), and have to climb my way back up. We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, and a Happy New Year!**

_**~ In memory of Ptabs0101 ~**_


	19. Road To Hell

The misfit team of guardians transmitted before the old Rocketyard, a powerful blizzard having swept through the area and concealing the ground before them. Where there used to be Hive and Fallen fighting, was now only just whatever guardians Saladin had chosen for the missions and strikes he had assigned for them, all doing their best to keep the plague contained. A few had recognized Summer and Pyrrha for who they were, giving a friendly wave or salute at the sight of them. Some of them were wounded, but were being given attention to by their ghosts.

Summer couldn't help but remember the death of her old life at the sight. The red snow had reminded her of the blood, on her and the snow.

"Quite the Deja Vu isn't it you two?" Barloc idly commented.

"If you don't count the infected Hive abominations, then yeah. It looks quite similar." Drei pitched in, as he then restated the objective. "Saladin has found Sepiks thanks to the help of Rahndel's fallen. They reported their findings to the lead scout for whatever nasties there could be."

"We should head there I suppose? Acquire scout reports of the land?" Pyrrha offered as she looked around, taking in the buildings. She kinda guessed it would be the average Monday sight for most guardians, but to her the place felt entirely unwelcoming. The SIVA tendrils all about the place, some alive some dormant, gave her the feeling that she was near the gates of hell itself. Splicers crawled along the walls of the buildings like spiders, taking every advantage they could get against the Guardians that were laying a hard offensive in on them. It didn't help that all the Infected Hive cared about was eating their foes alive, too.

Summer nudged her. "Don't get cold feet."

Barloc groaned at the comment as Pyrrha also sighed in disappointment, Summer simply smirking a tiny bit her pun.

They pressed deeper into the Rocketyard, eyes focused and hands on their weapons as they watched their backs, Drei having marked the scout and-

A sniper shot rang out, barely missing Pyrrha's head as the group ducked, Pyrrha putting up her shield. They looked to the sender… and found that it was the scout Drei marked for them to visit.

The scout seemed to realize his mistake as he then called out. "Sorry! All that red made her look like a Hive Knight!" He then motioned for them to come over, as he got back to writing out some papers, idly hanging from the balcony of King's Watch with a Longbow-Synthesis that he had at the side, as he uses a free hand to smoke.

Barloc grumbled under his breath. "Stupid kinderguardians not using the bloody friend foe tags… why if I were in my days-" He quickly fell into bitter murmurs about that scout.

"A-are all guardians like that?" Pyrrha asked with shaky breath. Her heart had practically jumped from the near death experience. Sure she had her aura. But would it be wise to take chances?

Summer cringed a bit in sympathy. "Yeah… that's why we don't wear armor that looks like our enemies."

"It is not a design fault, Summer." Barloc interjected as the group then began walking. "It is simply an ignorant Guardian who can't be bothered to check his HUD."

Summer rolled her eyes. "Oh please, like anybody looks for the tag. It's just shoot and go with everyone."

"Summer? I'm old."

"And?"

"Guys guys, please!" Pyrrha decided to stop the rising tension before the team they got heated. "I'll just get a shader to solve this. You guys got tons of them right?"

They both huffed at each other, before going back on path, both muttering 'old toot' and 'kinderguardian' respectively, but not audible enough for either to hear.

They came up to the scout within a short time after that. The hunter looked at them with a raised brow, his Awoken eyes looking them over. "...So a huntress, a warlock, and the hotshot walk into-" He then blanched. "Ugh, no, sounds like a bad bar joke… Hotshot and blueberries, what brings you guys here?"

Pyrrha opened her mouth to respond, but the hunter promptly cut her off. "Just kidding, I already know. Fallen soldiers running out of an industrial complex and you guys showing up gave me a good enough idea."

"Get to the point." Barloc said flatly.

The scout looked to the others for a moment. Summer seemed content to listen, while Pyrrha mouthed 'sorry'. He shrugged. "Okay… your stuck in the mud aside, I'm Hunt."

Summer let out a giggle snort at that, while Pyrrha looked between the two, confused. "Were you guys resurrected together or something, and just decided to choose the names?"

"Nope." "Incorrect!" They said in unison.

"Honestly never heard of this guy, what's he doing here?"

"I have been sent by those of the Vanguard to assist this team. Nothing more, nothing less." Barloc then took a small step towards Hunt. "Now, data?"

Hunt threw a data chip, Barloc catching it with but a finger. "Careful out there you three. It goes without saying that there'd be a lot of splicers, but there's also a tank. Might wanna stack up on some extra bullets."

Barloc grunted again, and chose to break off the conversation from there by turning around. "Mission has started you two. Let's get moving."

Seeing as their teammate tired of the conversation, Summer and Pyrrha followed. Though not before Summer ended it with one Last Word.

"Don't miss your prey, Hunt The Hunter!" At this, Barloc was wondering if he'd be able to last enough to kill Summer several times, as Pyrrha groaned internally.

"And you keep rocking them pun guns! Sun's out, puns out!" Hunt fired back.

That caused the team to look at him for a moment, Barloc with the fury of a thousand suns, Summer with a grin and a gleam in her eyes.

"What, thought you'd be the only one?" Hunt said with a grin, before adopting a serious look. "Now shoo, gotta get back to work."

00000

"I'm telling you, they have to be hiding something…" Barloc's right eye twitched in irritation, as he pulled back to the room. "Nobody doesn't just place five turrets in a spot to guard absolutely NOTHING!"

The three had just entered the industrial complex, their helmets on as they brandished their weapons, and already experiencing issues being a team. The floor itself was getting covered in snow due to the large opening in the rooftop above, with the open hole those fallen had came through last time blocked off by lasers, leaving them only able to pass through a rusted, metallic gate and into an area occupied by an inactive Hive seeder.

And even if they did slip through the dozens of lasers, for some strange reason, the splicers had put up turrets in the room. Drei flew in and scanned the place whilst avoiding the turrets, but there was nothing of note to be found other than broken down train cars and scrap.

Which really didn't help Barloc's OCD, as they sidetracked for a minute to ensure there was absolutely nothing there, if only to get Barloc to stop fretting over it.

"We just looked there Barloc." Summer stated matter of factly with a sigh as she dragged him along, mainly just to stop himself from accidentally being shot to death by the turrets. "Just move on already, there's nothing there!"

"But perhaps it isn't the case! There still MOUNDS of snow under all the junk! Maybe there could be a scrambler! Or maybe there-"

As Barloc went on with the possibilities of what was hidden there, Pyrrha looked to Summer with a face that said 'Is this what they're all like?'.

Summer chuckled at the thought and shook her head. As amusing as it'd be to see Lux or Ikora fret over even the most minor details, even THEY would've given up on this by now.

Especially since Sepiks wasn't that far away.

After a little bit of dragging Barloc away, they got to a railing, and came before a familiar room filled with splicers and infected Hive, the former of which had quickly noticed them, and alerted everyone else to their arrival. Some of the splicers dove behind a cargo truck, with many just opting to shoot them out from afar with wire rifles and sharpnel launchers. The infected mindless turned to look at them and attacked them on sight, thralls puking orbs of electric SIVA at them, while acolytes fired laser beams at them. All the while an infected wizard merely floated near a trio of SIVA turrets, not doing anything but floating amongst the turrets.

Barloc immediately brought out Havoc Pigeon and sniped out two vandals with wire rifles, before whipping out Truth in one smooth motion and reducing the splicers to ashes, as Summer did a frontflip mid-air into the crowd of Hive, slamming the ground with ancient, holy flames that reduced dozens of them to ashes. From there, it was simply making short work of the stragglers.

The wizard clapped its claws. "**Oh, so the fabled Rose and a couple of **_**humans **_**have found our lair, hm?"**

Barloc seemed mildly impressed. "I thought it would just be eliksni grunting noises again?"

The wizard didn't seem fond of that comment as it simply glared at Barloc, of whom idly put another void rocket inside of Truth. It turned back to Summer. "**It was about time you found it. It was amusing watching your kind fall into our traps because you just kept looking everywhere but where we put it last. One should always remember the past."**

"And you shouldn't keep making the same _aksident_ of bringing me to you." Summer shot back.

The wizard growled distastefully at the pun. "**Sloat… when you face Sepiks again, it will be you that made the mistake. Ha, zu, ka." **The wizard then went into the caverns below, no doubt exiting to the Grottos. Pyrrha made to follow, but Barloc held her back.

"Don't bother. I can already tell that's just a vessel for the Archon Prime." He then motioned to the turrets. "And those turrets will be too dangerous to take down, if an ambush awaits us down there."

They went up to the console, not even bothering to try and go through the door that obviously had lasers on it. Summer brought forth Drei to hack it.

"Same old security even… what is up with them? This will still take some time, but not as much as the last."

Barloc grunted in annoyance, as he and Summer went into defensive positions, Summer in a sniper's nest with Patience & Time, and Barloc with Shadow Price at the ready. Pyrrha did the same, getting up close and personal with Akoúo̱ at the ready. She looked between Barloc and Summer, Barloc looking not too happy about it and Summer who simply kept her aim on the doors.

"Judging by your expressions, I gather this happens way too much?"

"Unfortunately yes." Drei said, as he hacked the console. "Wish I could do more than open doors nowadays… maybe man some turrets?"

The alarm went off, splicers pouring out as Drei hummed in thought. "Sounds like a great idea, actually. I'll just reroute a few things..."

To say that the splicers put up a fight was an overstatement. Their fight was practically nothing but practice for the team, as most of them couldn't even get out of the doors, their combined fire and precision making it impossible for the splicers to put any pressure on them as they tore through void shields and popped heads with ease, their cover managing to keep the aggressive balls of SIVA energy from hitting them all the while. By the time the alarm went off again, they were met with both infected hive and splicers, but Drei came with the assist.

The SIVA turrets positioned at the grotto's entrance turned against their masters, quickly spinning up to fire thousands of rounds per minute into the infected hive and splicers alike from their position. Whenever an infected Hive came out of the grotto or a splicer got too close to the fireteam, they were immediately met with a hailstorm of bullets.

A splicer baron had managed to get through the mess of bullets and corpses, rushing up with a scorch cannon as it fired at the team in a rage. Before it could attack the console and potentially harm Drei, Barloc fired a rocket at him, as Pyrrha quickly turned Akoúo̱ back to Milos, and ran the javelin into the captain's chest. It dropped the scorch cannon, weakly grasping the spear as Pyrrha pulled out, quickly getting back into cover.

Barloc took the opportunity to shoot out its legs with Havoc Pigeon, before finishing off the rest of the stragglers with the team he's with.

When they were defeated, Drei took the opportunity to boast to the dead splicers and infected hive. "Not so little now am I?! Teach you guys to be attacking ghosts!"

Summer chuckled as she leapt down to get next to Drei. "Nice touch with the turrets. I bet they'll be _haunted_ with that memory."

As the team, with the exception of Summer who gave her usual grin, groaned and left to continue getting to the servitor, Rahndel dropped down from the rooftops, looking down upon the fallen baron who clutched a hand on its wounds. The baron looked at Rahndel spitefully, his scorn for the eliksni warrior re-ignited in his dying body.

"**Bar Bo. I warned you, Dresiks."**

"**Ga ha na… Devils shall ascend without you, blind fool. Machine God had abandoned us. Eliksni, above."**

"**Machine God Ki. It's salvation is ours."**

Dresiks chuckled. "**Bar ban ba. We Devils not abandoned by the machine god… eliksni han fre."**

"**Yus Machine God… sloat? Yet… na klen kles SIVA."**

Dresiks made to vehemently retort, but was only able to cough up ether.

"**Di Des, Dresiks… the tradition has always been our way. Dresiks, ban." **Rahndel pulled out a shock dagger, and readied himself to slit Dresiks's throat. "**Dresiks… ne zu fres di."**

With a clean cut to the throat, Dresiks fell limp. Rahndel just sat there. He did not rob Dresiks of his ether, even though it would've been in his best interests to do so. For all he wished to do was watch the ether flow out into the sky, in respect of his once comrade in arms.

00000

The three entered the open clearing known as The Blast, already able to see a spliced Devil Walker. They sighed in annoyance at yet another tank.

"When will the Eliksni learn that these things are practically useless?" Barloc muttered to himself, before explaining it to Pyrrha, who was already beginning to raise a question on how to defeat it. "You just detach the turret mainframe designed to counter-attack at medium range distances, which is really the only threatening bit, and all it has is a cannon capable of firing every 10 seconds with a long charge up time that requires it to stay still."

Pyrrha looked at the tank, her eyes squinting as she took in its form.

"I don't suppose that'd be the missile box thing, right?"

"That is not the word for it, but your perception of where to hit is correct." Barloc then pulled out Truth, as he went to destroy the brunt of the soldiers. "Just don't be blind and deaf to the cannon shots, and you won't die. Otherwise, stay back and let us do the damage."

"Ummm… noted." She let out with a grimace, knowing the slightest misstep in attention could end her.

"Tis' but a simple dance, Pyrrha. I'm sure you'll-"

"A _spider _dance!"

Barloc turned around, aiming Truth at her with callous confidence that Drei wasn't there, and that Summer couldn't do much about it. "You are this close to being blown up again, Summer."

She paused for a moment.

Then she turned around, grinning even harder. "I guess you just can't handle the Truth."

"The truth of what?"

"The Truth of me being a punmaster."

_**BOOM!**_

A hive seeder then hit the spider tank, along with two other smaller seeders that hit the buildings and snow, resulting in a massive explosion behind Barloc, who just stood there, absolutely dumbfounded and outright flustered by her words as Pyrrha clutched her sides, falling onto the snow from the sheer laughter that struck her and Summer both, Pyrrha still managing to let out 'I'm sorry!' in between breaths as Summer laughed at the convenience of the Hive seeders.

Their brevity of laughter at Barloc's expense, however, was interrupted by an ogre roaring from afar, catching their attention. Barloc had immediately turned on his heel and fired a rocket into its face, before diving for cover, Summer and Pyrrha doing the same as they let out a few more giggles.

"I immensely regret ever coming with you, Summer…" Barloc grumbled to himself. "Knew doing all this was just another waste of time."

"Oh come on, don't be so grumpy old man!" Summer said with a laugh, as she nudged Barloc, before peaking out and sniping the ogre dead.

"I am not old. I'm about 47 years of guardian time!"

"That's still old!"

"Summer, as hilarious as that was, we have to not die!" Pyrrha interjected, as she swapped to Akoúo̱, peaking out and shooting out some of the acolytes.

Barloc grunted in annoyance as he used Truth to pick off the large pack of shrieking Curse thralls as Summer only continued to laugh. However what caught both of them off guard was something in Summers voice changed. If not ever so slightly and so fast that they could have sworn they where just imagining it. For a second. It was...dark… almost insane even, like she was possessed if not for a small brief second. But the laughing was now starting to creep them out.

Barloc reloaded as did Pyrrha. By the end of the both of them killing the stragglers of Fallen and Hive, Summer finally stopped laughing. Pyrrha looked concerningly to Barloc who just shrugged his shoulders as he reloaded another pod into Truth. She followed suit, taking out several cartridges of dust rounds, and inserting them into her weapon like that of a M1 Grand.

"You done Kinderguardian?" Barloc drawled out, annoyed at Summer's childishness.

"Yeah. I'm done Barloc the Warlock." Summer said as she stifled the last few giggles.

Pyrrha looked to Summer in concern, as she swapped between her and Barloc. It was genuinely disturbing to her that even a veteran guardian, someone who would spot these signs from a mile away, thought that they were nothing of note. She was fairly certain there was something wrong with Summer then and there.

But it wasn't for someone like a simple huntress to say what guardian culture is like after all, right?

00000

Meanwhile on Remnant, over thousands of guardians, veterans nonetheless, were dancing on top of Beacon's rooftops, some hanging rather precariously over but an inch of pole as they danced. Some hunters just danced in the air, while warlocks glided about doing air dances. A few were even doing 'the bird'.

Glynda Goodwitch was being pushed to her limit at all of these slackers. Saviors of humanity, immortal warriors that fight back the darkness, and all they do is this?

She tried to call Shaxx. And by doing so, she spot one particular titan in the mix suddenly stop, and check their scroll over the blaring music. She could hardly believe her eyes at that point.

Shaxx eventually looked down and spotted her. "WHAT?!" He yelled from the rooftops. "THIS IS FRIDAY! WE'RE WAITING FOR XUR!"

"Don't forget the Vex Collective either, sir!" One of the warlocks called out, as they pointed to a large conflux off in the distance. "We're dancing to gather intelligence!"

00000

Pyrrha would have to report this to more responsible guardians. Brothers know how Barloc managed to be secretary of Cayde-6.

The three walked to the entrance of the building that was sheltering Sepiks. Pyrrha noticed a lot of bones and human skulls on pikes as they drew closer to the hangar. Pyrrha found it slightly unnerving, while Barloc just didn't even spare a glance at them.

"Summer you destroyed this machine first right? Why would the Fallen rebuild it?" Pyrrha asked.

"Probably as a way to convince the rest of the Devils to take in SIVA. That they themselves could become a God if they wished to embrace the nano tech… hmph. Such hubris always leads to death." Barloc spoke up before Summer, as she stayed quiet.

_It really doesn't make sense though… why didn't you take Sepiks right then and there, Oryx?_

_**Bah. It is a puny machine for having been bested by the likes of you within the first week of you being born. Truth be told it was my original plan to do so, but after finding out from the Hive in the area that you slayed it, I thought it useless to put effort into it as you came to fight my Echo. **_

_**Besides, **_Oryx growled. _**There were bigger fish to fry at the time. You. Humanity. Those impudent Cabal on the Dreadnaught. The struggling Vex at what you call, 'The Vault Of Glass'.**_

Summer hummed in thought, as they pressed on. She guessed it wasn't really necessary at the time since she was there, but it was definitely a missed opportunity.

They then reached the large hangar door and it slowly opened. They where on a platform that several SIVA Dregs where on. Kneeling before there remade Machine god. Summer just used her rifle and picked off the dregs as they would be a more annoyance and a threat to Barloc's and Pyrrha's safety as they did not have Ghosts obviously.

"Sepiks Perfected. In all its glory." Drei mutters more in a sarcastic manner.

(Play Red-Overtake you)

When it stopped receiving the infected ether as Summer put a knife in the last dreg's head. The Machine God shook a little as its shield dropped. Scanning the area with its one eye. It picked up on the three humans in its presence, and immediately called for backup.

Barloc immediately began firing and reloading Truth into the machine's center eye. Pyrrha immediately did the same with Akouo and Summer got into the third floor platform and used Patience in time and started unloading on the Machine. It teleported once to the far side of the hangar but was still under fire by the three humans. Though to its luck and annoyance of the three, a SIVA Skiff came in, and started dropping off Splicers. Sepiks took the opportunity to deploy an arc shield.

Captains with arc cannons came out from rooms on the sides of the catwalk Barloc and Pyrrha where on. Sepiks' shield came back online when the firing stopped and was directed at the new reinforcements of Splicers. Pyrrha immediately transformed Akouo's rifle form into its spear form and started attacking the first two Splicer captains with arc cannons. The shock and force if the blows immediately started wreaking havoc and stressing its shield generator. Pyrrha then stabbed its head as the barrier short-circuited, purple blood and ether sprayed the blade and a little bit got onto Pyrrha's helmet, steaming off thanks to the helmet's auto cleaning systems.

Barloc switched out from Truth to his auto rifle and fired dozens of bullets into the second Splicer captain, and causing damage to its ether container. Summer just nonchalantly sniped the last splicer captain's head off and reloaded her sniper rifle. Pyrrha immediately took care of the few dregs and vandals.

However as Summer re-engaged Sepiks while Barloc stayed in cover, her Thorn didn't do anything to Sepiks's shields, and the Machine God retaliated by firing balls if over charged SIVA projectiles at them. Summer dodged and jumped off the platform she was on.

"Our weapons can't take down its shields, what now?" Summer yelled to Barloc over the noise of guns and servitor shots being fired.

"Use your eyes rat-brain!" Barloc snapped in annoyance, as he was picking at a captain with an arc cannon from afar. "It has an arc shield! We take powerful arc weapon, AND HIT THEM WITH IT!"

Pyrrha picked up one of the arc cannons the captains dropped upon death, struggling to lift it due to its weight. She frowned at the lack of ammo in it. "There's only one round left in this one!"

"I SAID SHOOT!"

Getting out of cover and taking a knee Pyrrha pulled the trigger and fired an over charged Round from the arc canon at Sepiks. The shields immediately popped on impact. Summer and Barloc immediately switched out their weapons, Barloc grabbing the remaining arc cannon after finally picking off the captain, while Summer swapped to a shotgun that Drei had transmatted into her hands.

More specifically, Found Verdict. A weapon that laid arc judgement down upon her foes when she was able to get close for an opening. And such an opening was given, as Barloc fired the arc cannon into Sepiks's eye, allowing Summer to stab into it with her knife, and shoot round after round of Found Verdict into its frame at full auto, causing it to shake violently with each high impact shot as Pyrrha and Barloc attacked from the side, Barloc shooting both Havoc Pigeon and Shadow Price at it, while Pyrrha stabbed into it as well with her spear.

The Machine God saw multiple warnings signs, which made it groan in anger at the three before it as Summer jumped off, reloading another full magazine into it as everyone else backed up. Its Hull integrity had dropped massively, and it was trying to charge up another shield. But it wouldn't get the chance to do it, as the three kept up their far away onslaught, rockets and bullets continuing to batter it, until finally, it could handle no more.

A rocket blast had ruptured its core, and just like that, Sepiks Perfected was gone, reduced to nothing but ashes at it exploded from the inside.

The three looked at each other, Pyrrha ecstatic at the kill, while Summer and Barloc looked on in confusion. After a few more seconds of celebrating, Pyrrha noticed the lack of joy coming from the two.

"That was easy." Barloc commented, as he looked up at the tower, which still had the ships on it.

"Too easy." Summer added on, as he followed his gaze, Pyrrha joining in as well.

Suddenly, they heard a clap from the area below Sepiks. A splicer vandal.

"**Good job, good job! You've killed the servitor! I bet you're all feeling proud about yourselves?"**

Barloc stayed silent, keeping an ever vigilant watch on the tower above them.

"What do you want now, Aksis?" Summer spat in annoyance at him. "You've lost your pet servitor. Might as well stop now before you _slip up._"

The splicer laughed arrogantly at them. "**Wasn't that just cute? Almost like that friend of your daughter's."**

Summer's eyes shone for a moment. She knew what he was talking about. Atlas's top secret project, Penny.

_He is endangering Ruby?_

…

_He is endangering Ruby._

_**He is endangering Ruby. He must die.**_

Suddenly, giant tendrils of SIVA made their way up to the top of the tower of ships, curling around it like snakes encircling their prey. Barloc readied Truth, his eyes flying open as he realized the threat, immediately retreating as he grabbed Pyrrha's hand on the way out.

"H-hey! What are you doing Barloc?!"

"GET OUT, NOW!"

But Summer wasn't listening to them. Or paying attention to what was happening above, as dark embers glowed off of her form. She slowly walked up to the vandal, Thorn in hand as she stared him down with the cold fury of a blizzard. Her armor was turning black with the dark flames.

_**Crush him. Make him suffer for his heresy. Show your might before this parasite, and let him know our will is absolute, that his impudent life is forever under casuality.**_

"**You actually thought that Sepiks would be nothing but a little machine ball, with nothing but a couple of flimsy shields and a few devil captains?" **The vandal laughed in arrogance. "**See, you're not at the Devil's Lair right now. The Devil's Lair isn't just some place under a-"**

But the vandal didn't get to finish his sentence, as Summer thrust her palm out, telekinetically grasping at his throat as she lifted him into the air like a villain out of a movie. He weakly grasped at his throat, as if trying to free himself of whatever force was choking him.

"Shut. Up."

Before she could squish his head like a water balloon, one of the evacuation ball-shaped pods suddenly turned red and black as SIVA tendrils swarmed around it, a giant red eye turning to look at Summer. It got off of the tower, as it did so, it knocked the tower towards her, causing it to fall right on top of her. Summer had only enough time to look at it, before the damn thing fell right on top of her, knocking her out instantaneously as it turned to The Blast.

00000

Pyrrha managed to wrench herself free of Barloc's grasp just as they made it halfway across The Blast, as she turned to look at him, a whirlwind of emotions running through her, fear, anger, and confusion running through her adrenaline filled mind. "What the hell was that for?!"

"There's no time for this Pyrrha! If we don't get out of here and get into the ship to call back, we-"

Suddenly, the tower from before began creaking. Both ex-guardian and huntress in-training turned to look, Barloc in abject horror and Pyrrha in primal fear as they watched it fall, a giant red and black orb having pulled itself off of it and knocked the tower down onto the area. And while Pyrrha looked on, unable to move or think, Barloc realized one, horrifying thought.

Summer wasn't here.

…

After a moment of staring, he quickly scanned the area, and found an active pike. He didn't waste time, pulling Pyrrha again and starting up the thrusters as he hoisted both Pyrrha and him onto the pike. All the while he cursed under his breath.

_Traveler be damned, forget about her! I won't let a mortal die on my watch!_

Was only thought driving him right now, as he drove deep into the complex with his heart sounding like a drum, dodging giant shots of SIVA aimed at them meaning to turn them entirely. Pyrrha's muscles were stiff as she held onto him for dear life, still terrified at the sight of such a monster before her, unable to even think about bringing Akoúo̱ out and shoot at it.

What would bullets do against a true god, after all?

He sped into the Grottos, deciding that the cover would be enough for him and Pyrrha to hide out in. Thankfully, they were completely emptied out, not a single Hive in sight.

He got off the pike as Pyrrha limply fell off onto her knees, shaking heavily. "We're going to die… oh Brothers we are going to die!"

"Pyrrha, calm down."

"They just took Summer. They just killed the only one who managed to defend Remnant from-"

"PYRRHA!"

Pyrrha snapped out of her fear-induced haze, looking at Barloc dead in the eyes as he took off his helmet, making sure she got the message.

"I want you to listen to me, Pyrrha. You are getting out of this, don't get that wrong in the slightest." He said, showing utter confidence in both voice and face as he then put his helmet back on, turning around.

"That thing isn't as big as the Dreadnaught. It is ketch sized for certain, but it doesn't make it invulnerable to ship fire." He stated as he walked to the other side of the caves. "I'm going to call out for air support. If I don't come back telling you the coast is clear, drive out of here as soon as you possibly can, do you understand that?"

"B-but you'll-!"

"Your teammates need you still Pyrrha. Jaune needs you." He says as he pulls out a manual, throwing it at Pyrrha. "Don't let such foolishness leave you as part of his army."

Pyrrha paused for a moment, before nodding, accepting that she had a team to be a part of still. He didn't turn to look at her, as she stood there in wait.

Barloc kept walking, even though every instinct of his body told him to remain, to hide inside the walls of the cavern. But he didn't listen. He listened to only one mantra he kept reciting in his head. _Devote yourself, be brave and diligent in your duties. Devote yourself, sacrifice life and limbs for the weak. Devote yourself, push back the darkness with all your light until you die._

With Shadow Price aimed and readied, he eventually walked out of the caverns. He thankfully found a clearing that was completely untouched. He quickly got behind the most decent cover he could find, and got on the comms channel linked to the Rocketyard. He had to check.

It was already filled with panicking guardians nearby, who were already getting shot at by the thing. He was able to hear the shots, both from where he was and on the comms. Distress signals were already sent out in the dozens, while guardians from other channels stated that they were calling their ships in, but they were going to end up taking a while.

He hoped that Rahndel's Devils had already gotten over their grudge against the guardians, because that was the only way they were getting out of there alive.

He got onto Saladin's channels. It was pointless to do it with Shiro, he knew his comms were already flooded. "Saladin!"

"Barloc!" The Iron Lord sighed in relief. "Thank the Traveler you're alive! Where's Summer and Pyrrha, where in the world did that thing come from?!"

"Pyrrha with me but-" He paused, unsure of how to say it. "...I-I don't know what happened to Summer! I told her to get out and call her ship, but I haven't seen her since!"

"I see…" Saladin said in thought, as he mulled it over.

It was then Barloc had suddenly wished he stopped to check, having sensed how monotone Saladin's voice was. No doubt the guardians would pin her death on his lack of care for their heroine. He would have to get exiled and hunted down for deserting his teammate, nay outright abandoning their most prominent heroine over a mortal!

_...No, there's still hope! Maybe she could still be there! I just need to sneak through and pull her and her ghost out of the-_

"Then I hope she's out there fighting whatever is causing that giant spike in dark energy!" Saladin said, as he was heard scurrying to get into his own ship. "The real Sepiks had some darkness emanating from it, but this spike is unlike anything we've ever seen before in the data reports from The Hidden!"

"...Did you just say there was a spike in neutrino scattering?"

00000

**Diluation:And in classic Ptabs' style, you've been hit with the dirty cliffhanger! Next chapter, **_**the real fight begins.**_

**Sorry for the 3-day delay, but I attempted to go back and play Destiny 2 to discover the lore myself. Keyword being 'attempted'. Because by the Traveler, has this game become incredibly grindy when I last left it for the math class I had last semester.**

**Rest assured that I've given up on playing the game(but not the lore). I shall put more focus into this for as long as I can, but I've got a 21 unit semester this spring. Hopefully the following fight will prove satisfactory(I'm going through editing it, should be available in a couple days at most).**

**The Anime guy:Sorry to do this to you guys. But it would have been way too long. Anyways onto REVIEWS!**

**Reviews**

**UE1:What exactly do those two hymns in the bits with Ruby and Summer mean? (Translation if possible?) I'm just curious as I don't know if that the first one is arabic. But I don't know or recognized the second one. Either way, I liked this chapter.**

**The Anime guy: Ok so here's a hint. The second one is Indian but turned English. I figured this would be a great little thing for our community. I specifically chose foreign languages for different parts of the old hymn. And for showing interest in the detail, I will DM you the second hint.**

**Ashoei: you guys said X mas Special. So does that mean the development between Ruby and Summer is not necessarily Canon?**

**Fireteam:It is not canon. It will heavily conflict with future events.**

**The Anime guy: even though…*sniff* sadly we wanted it to..*sniff* (sad writer noises)**


	20. Cacodemon

Barloc cursed to himself, as he wondered what signs could he have possibly missed. He was not reading his data regarding the frequency of Summer's puns, nor how Summer felt about said puns. He wasn't reading the headstrong behaviors that had happened on the few occasions they patrolled in their freetime. He wasn't even counting the times he blew up Summer himself.

What concerned him most at the moment, was how he missed the heat signatures.

Pyrrha looked to Barloc in concern as she drove the sparrow up to him. "What's wrong? The rumbles have stopped, but you still seem worried."

"Everything is still wrong Pyrrha!" Barloc let out in a panic. "This shouldn't have happened. These sorts of checks are usually felt or given a report by the guardian's ghost. For a spike of this size to occur- I-I don't even-"

"Barloc, what are you talking about?" Pyrrha said as she straightened him towards her. "What heat signatures did we miss?!"

Barloc grit his teeth. "Light and Darkness both emit passive heat. The latter is made of neutrino particles, while the other is simply just the Traveler's energy. These sort of heat auras are particularly easy to differentiate between the two." Barloc narrowed his eyes. "And they are not afflicted by mental health, unless that person is but a fool."

Pyrrha's eyes widened.

"Then do you think-"

"But it doesn't make any Traveler-damned sense!" Barloc threw the datapad away in frustration like it was but a grenade, cracking it. "The heat signature was the same as it was ever since the Thorn incident on Remnant! What in the solar system could possibly cause such a massive spike of energy to appear on her?! It's impossible! It just can't be her, yet-"

"What's impossible?"

The two looked up to see Frederick's ship, with Frederick standing at the hangar is it landed down. He was just as unhappy about the new turn of events, too. "One moment, I'm in the middle of some patrols and missions Archon's Keep, the next, I'm hearing about a museum sized servitor killing everyone." They could feel his light's intense heat as his voice boomed. "Barloc, Pyrrha, I'm sorry, but what the hell?!"

"We speak of it later!" Barloc cut sharply. "The energy readings emanating from the spike are strong, but it isn't strong enough to deal with the servitor! We must gather allies and engage in battle with this foe!"

As Barloc said that four Guardians wearing the same armor, but rather different colors came out of cover to the lightless Guardian, female huntsman in training, and rather livid titan.

"Frederick, we're here to help!" Said the one in orange and white. His rifle looking like it fired pure arc energy.

"I just thought of a plan, Boss, have Sev, Scorch, and Fixer get to your ship, we're going to need its fire power. You're with me brother!" Frederick ordered.

The four Guardians nodded.

"You heard him, move your butts!" The orange one named Boss ordered his fireteam to do.

The other three nodded and transmatted immediately. Frederick then turned to Barloc and Pyrrha.

"You two come with me, and get on the chain guns on the sides of my ship! Boss you take the 20mm cannon!"

All four ran into Frederick's ship, Frederick getting back into the pilots seat, ensuring his systems were all operational. Boss, the Orange Titan, ran up the ladder near the cockpit and into the cannon gunner's seat. Pyrrha nervously got into position as Barloc quickly taught her the controls. After that was done, Barloc and Pyrrha strapped themselves into the seats in front of the Terminals for the MMGs mounted on the sides.

00000

(Play - Mastermind - Mick Gordon)

_**How dare he? How dare he threaten to endanger what we had only just regained? To mock us as they hold what is ours?**_

Summer Rose was still burning with the wrath of Oryx's hellish darkness, as she stared down the servitor above her, having teleported out of the way just in time to avoid the tower from falling on her. It was a far greater teleport than her normal blink, mainly due to Oryx's power further enhancing the effect.

_**He is but a worm! AN INSIGNIFICANT INSECT PROCLAIMING HIMSELF TO BE ABOVE US!**_

But the first navigator was not pleased. In fact, he was enraged. The vandal had escaped his torment due to the tower falling down. It was the only reason why his power still coursed through her in unity with her light, which fought back, trying to bring Summer back to reason. But all she could hear was both Oryx's rage, and her own venomous thoughts towards Aksis. Both Rose and Navigator were plotting ways to put him in place.

Of course, they had to finish the job in front of them first. Sepiks Infinite, a servitor with all three elements of light at his disposal. The devastating heat of Solar energy circled around him like a powerful, smothering aura. The fiery ring occasionally lashed out, killing some unfortunate guardians that had been out in the open with a solar flare.

The all-encompassing cold of Void seemed to make Sepiks untouchable, as snow froze in place in the air. She could feel Earth's gravity becoming distorted, making her at times feeling like she's on the moon, to being in the very center of a black hole. Even some of her weapons were falling off from the lack of gravity, and slamming into the ground.

And Arc energy coursed throughout Sepiks' body and SIVA tendrils, the tendrils pulsing while the Arc danced mad on the Machine God. Lightning caused complete and utter chaos throughout systems everywhere, power normally strong enough to power the city for decades, coursing out without restraint as buildings were set on fire or exploded.

This was the Prime. The highest, and now, beyond perfection.

And all would fall before the power of the beast before them, lest they become little else but slaves.

But this was not a king or queen. This was nothing more than a hivemind, a would be leader that would bring his plague upon the universe.

_The Splicers considered themselves gods, fit to rule the universe?_

_**They would find themselves face to face with the monarch. They shall face US!**_

With a blur of motion, Thorn pulled itself out of its holster and into her grasp. The weapon was alight with hellish green flames, as it was once more unleashed in its full power. Except this time, it changed in Summer's grasp to a completely different weapon. The edges became even rougher, the barrel and frame of the gun changing to that of a SMG. No longer was the Thorn. But rather, the Alerpollen, who's barrel drooled with black and green acid.

Summer did not care for the change of weapon. She just fired, unleashing sickly bullets that went straight at Sepiks, piercing its carapace, the spines shaking before mutating into writhing buzzing forms. Mosquitoes that latch on, draining their prey of their life force while they're unaware.

But the damage was largely being mitigated by Sepiks' shielding, and she knew it would not be enough to simply shoot the servitor down.

Summer dodged the retaliatory projectiles by jumping into the air, the harsh red SIVA missiles passing by her entirely and hitting the ground as she zipped side to side, white and black petals left in her wake as she floated about like a warlock. Seeing as her attacks were ineffective, she swapped to Young Wolf's Howl, taken power coursing through it to emit ancient Hive and Iron Lord flames. She swung at the beast from afar like she was using Boltcaster, a disc of arc energy shooting out and burning its defenses.

_**They cower behind walls in hopes that one day they shall escape their fate! DISGUSTING!**_

SIVA tendrils rose from the ground like weeds, attempting to latch onto her or knock her aside. A quick motion from her free hand caused the offenders to be pulled out like they were nothing, squished, and thrown to the side, dark flames eating away at their very being. Those that tried to join in from then on out were shaped into spears for the enraged Rose to throw. The servitor seemed to take her a bit more seriously with her sheer power, as it retaliated back with miniature turrets on its frame to shoot down the projectiles.

**"I must say Rose, I'm quite impressed."** The servitor commented, Aksis' voice still coming through. "I didn't think you had the gall to bring back that pathetic excuse of a king. Or is it because you frail, weak humans-"

The corrupted Rose snarled in rage, and attempted to rush the servitor down. It seemed displeased at that, as it let out a void pulse wave from its body, swiftly sending Summer to the ground as her abilities were temporarily suppressed.

**"You know, it's rather rude to interrupt someone as they're talking."** The servitor said, as it charged up a ball of solar fire to finish her up.

"Like hell am I going to just listen to some stupid monologuing again." She growled as she attempted to get up, but was held back by a limp. She looked at her leg. Broken.

Not that something like that stopped her before, as she used her sword to stand, attempting to deflect the shot the size of a Prime Servitor at the last second, only to find herself covered in a dark green glow, tanking the shot with next to no damage to the sword or herself. Confused, she looked behind her.

The Taken joined the battle, corrupting the area around the Cosmodrome, as they rushed to Oryx's command, echoing his domineering will in destroying the machine god. Dozens, if not hundreds of various Taken foes had just arrived to the battle, all firing their own weapons at the servitor. And while they did little to truly damage it, it certainly seemed to irritate Sepiks, and Aksis, greatly.

At the head of it all, was Drei. He said nothing, but his intentions were clear. Wherever he looked, some Taken would turn their gaze, understanding what he wants. As of now, Drei was looking at her, with several goblins having kept their gaze on Summer to shield her from the blast.

"I just want to let you know," Drei said, as he came to quickly heal up the leg, a beam of light shooting out to heal the damage. "A certain somebody isn't going to be happy about you using this again, Summer."

"We'll worry about Shin later." Summer said curtly, as she stood up. "We need to destroy this thing."

The servitor seemed to be amused at the thought. **"Ha Ba Bas. Such hubris you have… do you not know that ever since Oryx's coming, we have specifically prepared this to kill you, Rose?"**

The servitor then grew spikes, crackling with SIVA energy, and charged down at the Taken like a meteorite, destroying dozens as it went into the industrial complex, and back into the air, barely even damaged by the attack.

**"Honestly,"** The servitor laughed, as it kept firing at the Taken. **"I find it amusing how a several millennia old god has managed to miss such a valuable opportunity to give us data. It would've been interesting to see what a corrupted Servitor core would do. Before we turned it with SIVA that is."**

_**SILENCE HIM!**_

Without even a thought directing the motion, Summer blinked to the servitor while aiming to slash it. The result of such a powerful strike caused the shields to short circuit, and release a wave of pure elemental power that sent Summer flying back once more, however this time she maintained her spot in the air.

The servitor teleported backwards a whole mile, checking its shields as it floated over the Lord's Watch. **"Ha e sloat."** The servitor let out. With an angry machine whine, it continued to fire at the Taken from afar, while also leaving Summer unable to attack. **"Regardless, this is a fruitless effort, Rose. There shall be no 'lights out' for my indestructible servitor."**

Summer grit her teeth in frustration at the servitor. As much as she hated to admit it, she was outmatched, even with the extra help. Both her and the Taken couldn't play the ranged game, and even if she brought out Icebreaker, the battle would just be too long. The servitor would sooner leave than let her shoot it to death with a weapon like that.

But it also couldn't deal with her, either. Unlike the bloodlusting Taken, she could just regenerate and focus on attrition. It was a stalemate, and both sides knew it.

Yet the servitor pressed on, as it spoke from afar to her. **"How about this, Summer Rose? If you go ahead and kill your ghost right here and now, I'll spare you and your family."**

"Ha! Nice try Aksis. Nothing can break our bond!" Drei shot out, as it then turned to Summer. "Right guardian?!"

But Summer was silent, actually considering it as she looked at Drei out of the corner of her eye, her helmet concealing her emotions. _True, it will protect Ruby. But should I-_

_**If you actually kill your ghost, while I will find it immensely pleasing… I shall also be severely disappointed.**_

_I was actually about to consider dressing him up in his 'ghost' costume, and performing an exorcism before Drei takes the costume off. Technically, that's how real ghosts get killed._

"...Guardian?" Drei couldn't help but become a bit worried at Summer's sudden silence.

It took Oryx a moment to process that, before he roared in agony at the horrible joke he just got played by. Summer just chuckled, a grin on her face as she focused back on the servitor. "You think you could put that white sheet for yourself again?" She idly said to Drei, while staring at the servitor.

"Why would you- oh." Drei then groaned at the guardian's idea.

"Oh come on, it'd be great!"

"I am not depreciating myself just so you could make a little joke Summer."

**"Oh well,"** The servitor said halfheartedly. **"I suppose I should just continue converting the local guardians here… and then your daughter."** It then went about its rampage, trying to gather a guardian army to overwhelm Summer with later on, shooting down ships that were trying to evacuate guardians as it went. Summer was only able to stand there helplessly, unable to keep being close to the machine god as Oryx's surge of power lessened, the Hive god opting to save his power for the next chance to strike as the servitor's shields came back online.

_**Behind you.**_

Summer turned around to see what Oryx had sensed. Frederick's ship was flying in on their location, Barloc standing in the hangar and looking not very pleased about what she just pulled. He didn't say a single word, but fixed her with a steely look that promised both words and pain about her using the Darkness again.

"There's no space in the gun turrets this time around, I guess?" Summer couldn't help but ask, mournfully looking at the pre-occupied turrets.

"Activate the magnets on your boots and get on the roof of the ship, you goddamn kinderguardian." Barloc snapped in immense irritation, as he pointed upwards. "Besides, with the extra power you've got, you work better off of them."

Summer sighed at Barloc's behavior, as she got on top of the ship's roof. "You're awfully snippy for someone who's butt I've kicked easily."

Barloc simply rolled his eyes, "We're not done here, you owe me an explanation after this." With that, he went back inside after setting the hangar to close automatically. Summer quickly got on top of the ship's roof, aiming to finish the fight as the black flames came back in a rage once more, Oryx's sheer fury coursing through her once more as he commanded the remaining taken goblins to get inside the ship and sacrifice themselves to bolster its shielding.

The servitor once more turned its attention back to Summer, only to be surprised when a missile hit it right in its eye, causing it to flinch at the suddenness of the attack. It attempted to retaliate by firing a shot at the ship, of which the ship easily absorbed the hit. The servitor seemed to be annoyed, as the ship shot at the servitor from afar, only to then realize who the ship belonged to. **"Demon! How are you and your band of idiots coming along? I've heard that you've sent your granddaughter to Remnant, too."**

Frederick merely narrowed his eyes within the ship's cockpit, as he focused on dodging the servitor's attacks. "You won't get a single digit on her."

**"On the contrary, I'm pretty close to her. Almost… connected with h-."**

The Servitor was cut off mid Sentence by another missile blast.

"Just Fucking die already!" Frederick shouted as all the weapons on his ship opened fire.

The servitor gave a mock look of indignance.** "How rude. Someone oughta teach you some manners, imp."** There was a cracking sound as a myriad of SIVA tendrils broke out of the ground and shot towards the ship.

Bullets pelted at the Servitors shields. Frederick steered his ship to the side to avoid the lashing SIVA tendrils The sudden movement caused Summer to fall over on the roof, as the ship wove back and forth to avoid getting torn apart.

"Hey Freddie, mind keeping the ship still!?" Summer asked as she kept doubling over from the sudden movements. "I can't get an aim on him!"

"Oh I'm sorry that my attempts to make sure we don't DIE is such an inconvenience!" Frederick shot back on the comm line, firing the nose gun as he pulled the ship in a hard left to avoid a tendril. "But we're all in the same ship, Summer!"

"Keep our focus on staying alive!" Barloc announced over the radio comms. "If we keep it distracted, the Vanguard can bring in aerial strike forces to destroy this thing! It will find itself with no place to- what is that noise?"

Very faintly in the comms line, Pyrrha was faintly singing a song to herself as she focused on firing at the tentacles. _"We all live in a yellow submarine…"_

Barloc blinked owlishly. "A yellow submarine? Oh bother, Pyrrha's overloaded isn't she."

Pyrrha missed a shot due to the jolting. "N-no I'm not! I'm perfectly calm, I'm just singing a old-"

"A yellow submarine." Drei affirmed, while Summer's eyes glinted with a crazy, but ingenious idea in her head, having heard what Pyrrha is singing. "I think she's-"

"Freddie, connect us all to the ship's speakers!"

"Rose, what are you doing now?" Barloc asked in confusion.

"Heck's your plan, Summer?" Frederick couldn't help but ask as he connected everyone to the ship's speakers.

Summer cleared her throat, staring at Sepiks who only kept its assault up, as she played a pre-golden age song. _"In the town; where I was born.. lived a man; who sailed to sea."_ She then mouthed to Drei, telling him to play the song's instrumentals.

"Guessing that's Beatles… yep, Beatles." Drei then played the instrumental version of the song.

The servitor couldn't help but pause a moment, confused by the song, causing its attacks to slow down. **"What are you humans doing?"**

While the rest of the crew remained confused, Barloc seemed to get the idea quickly. "Ah, a dark age tactic…" He then cleared his throat, as he continued his onslaught. _"And he told; us of his life... In the land; of submarines."_

Seeing that her guardian superiors were up with the idea, Pyrrha hesitated a moment before continuing, all while keeping focus on the battle in front of her. _"So we sailed; up to the sun… Til we found; a sea of green."_

Frederick didn't have any clue what in god's name they were doing. But sensing that he had to continue, he quickly came up with what he thought were the lyrics. _"And we lived; beneath the waves… in our yellow; submarine."_

If it wasn't due to the fact the machine didn't have a blinking function, it would've. **"Are you all… singing right now?"**

And in response to that, the entire crew of the ship began singing in unison, Summer dancing in tune to the song on top of the ship while missiles soared through the air like birds of prey, the gun turrets easily shooting down the tentacles that tried to idly smack the missiles out of the way, further damaging its shields.

_"We all live in a yellow submarine; yellow submarine; yellow submarine."_  
_"We all live in a yellow submarine; yellow submarine; yellow submarine."_

_"And our friends; are all aboard."_ Boss pitched in.

Scorch also added in, having just arrived in Boss's ship, which had fired its own weapons from behind Sepiks. _"Many more of them; live next door."_

_"And the band begins to play."_ Summer said, as she paused on the cue, letting the music take over while she charged her sword, Frederick's ship getting just close enough for her to lunge at the servitor and break its shields, managing a decent sized cut on the servitor as well.

**"AH!"** The servitor stumbled back, before looking at the two ships, enraged enough to completely ignore the other guardians getting in their ships as it summoned forth skiffs. **"Alright, enough of this noise! TIME TO-"**

_"We all live in a yellow submarine!"_ A suddenly joined chorus of 3 guardians rang out with the other two ships, with more jumpships getting off the ground and joining in. _"A yellow submarine; a yellow submarine!"_

Sepiks looked around at the increasing armada of ships, attempting to blast them out, but couldn't land a hit on them as the ships quickly moved out of the way, also allowing other ships to join in. _"We all live in a yellow submarine; a yellow submarine; a yellow submarine!"_

By the time that chorus was finished, the whole scene became complete aerial chaos. Guardians continued to sing the song while doing little tricks in the air, unintentionally dodging skiff shots as they fought back, shooting down skiffs like they weren't a threat while buzzing around the servitor like flies, doing whatever damage they could.

_"As we live a life of ease."_ Pyrrha continued on with a smile, feeling content and safe with the many jumpships that had joined the battle.

_"Everyone of us; has all we need."_ Summer sung jovially as she fired Gjallarhorn shots, with the guardians in the background echoing her words.

_"Sky of blue; and sea of green."_ Frederick still had no clue what everyone was doing, but he wasn't going to lie and say that this song wasn't good. Even still, the guardians echoed his words.

_"In our yellow; submarine."_ Barloc finished the lyrics, letting the guardians fly about in the air while repeating the lyrics that commonly played throughout the song.

He then opened up his scroll to put Summer, Pyrrha, and Frederick on a private chat. "Okay… this is not the result I expected, but is also typical of guardian culture. They should be able to handle things from here."

True to Barloc's word, not only had Vanguard reinforcements come in, confused at how many guardians were suddenly up and singing about the battlefield, they also brought to bear ships bearing faction colors and symbols, that all at once started unleashing all the payload they had on any ship that wasn't carrying a green IFF tag.

"Wait, you mean you guys tend to break out into song and dance every now and then?" Pyrrha couldn't help but question, now wondering what happened to everyone's professionalism there.

"Along with the teabags, yes, teabags are very typical in the Crucible." Barloc affirmed.

"What's a-" Summer began to ask, but was cut off by Frederick.

"Barloc… teabags fell out of fashion decades ago."

"WHAT?!" Barloc suddenly shouted in both disbelief and rage. "That cannot be! Everyone was doing it back in my last Crucible matches! Why, nothing is better to enrage your target than dragging saggy nuts over your foe's face!"

"Like the nuts chipmunks eat?" Summer said, the clear innocence and curiosity coming through her line loud and clear, while Pyrrha blushed heavily at the notion of what guardians would often did to each other.

"Barloc…" Frederick said with a sigh. "Let it go. You're becoming worse than Cayde."

Barloc sputtered in indignation, but reluctantly complied, finding no real need to talk about the meaning of the insult. He was already numb with the amount of times guardians tended to be rude back then.

"I think it's a blessing I'm not a guardian yet in all honesty." Pyrrha couldn't help but say, as she held her forehead with a hand. "You are all insane."

"Insanely powerful." Barloc added.

"I'm not sure if I should be worried about that…"

Frederick merely smiled at the antics Summer's team were already up to, as Barloc and Summer then proceeded to talk about the many times of how guardians danced to retrieve intel on Fallen, Hive and Cabal communication panels, with Barloc recounting the times Zavala danced, and how horribly he did in comparison to Cayde and Ikora. As he began to turn the ship away from the battlefield to give a mission report, and to talk with Summer and Barloc regarding the spike in darkness, they heard a familiar, enraged mechanical voice behind them, sounding damaged as it roared.

**"I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU, DREGS!"** The Aksis controlling Sepiks roared as it bolted after them, attempting to take the ship down.

Only to be hit by green laser beams, Several Rockets and two Plasma Nose turrets, destroying the Servitor's core and causing it to fall into the industrial complexes below.

"You boys are rather late to the Party." Boss deadpans under his T shaped visor helmet. "But the assist was well appreciated."

"Yeah, well I told you we should have parked near the Archon's Keep." Scorch took a jab at Boss' overprotectiveness of his ship. "Seriously, you treat it like it's your own kid. Parking it a whole 20 miles away?"

"I still think that the singing on the coms was retarded." Sev grunted, none too pleased about the singing in the air. "Why can't there be a day without somebody starting up a cheesy song?"

"Cheesy songs are a completely viable tactic to win a battle." Barloc defended Summer over the comms, as he and Pyrrha went to the lobby in the ship to talk in person with Summer.

"It's a dark age tactic! One that's made of cheese!" Summer added as well to further validate the argument, much to everyone's dismay as Barloc hit his head into a wall, while Pyrrha groaned in disappointment.

"Cut the chatter you two, that thing is getting back up!" Fixer said as he flew their ship over the target they just shot at, the Servitor's engines attempting to bring it back up into the air.

"Thanks for the heads up." Frederick chimed in, as he silently moved away, taking the shields offline as he didn't bother to finish Sepiks off. The Taken Goblins empowering the ship also disappeared, returning back to the Ascendant Plane at the will of their leader.

**"Oh for the love of myself- what now?"** The rather belted remains of Sepiks' stated as it slowly got up. **"For the love of all things sane, why can't you all just DIE ALREADY!"** the Servitor's remains shouted in anger, as it tried using its one last tendril.

Only for half of all of the guardian ships to pelt the Servitor back down with rockets and machine gun fire, as they kept forcing the Splicers' ships away from the Plaguelands, till it was literally just pieces leaving only the internal machine eye to fly out and into Frederick's ship, catching itself into a vent and rolling around in it until finally falling out and landing inside the main hold. The internal eye was the size of an overly large soccer ball, one akin to the mini servitors that guardians played with in the Reef. Summer nonchalantly just puts her foot against its rolling form to stop it and smiles as the eye lit up one last time.

Aksis roared out in rage, spouting curse after curse in Eliksni language, sounding extremely displeased with how his play didn't work out as he had hoped, having only managed to kill and/or convert a small amount of guardians at best. The team could hear Aksis tearing the metal floor apart in wherever he was now in a rage, the self-imposed machine god's wrath finding itself with no target to torment at this very moment. It almost sounded akin to an angry, immature german man, were it not for the fact the one in question was clearly alien.

"Lights out." said Summer smugly, as he brought her foot down on the eye, shattering it into pieces of metal and red ether.

Frederick heard the crash and immediately put the ship on auto pilot and got out to see what the noise was, just in time to see Summer smashing apart the last pieces of the eye.

"Was that safe to do, especially in MY ship?" Frederick asked.

Boss slid down, noticing the same thing. "That probably could've been a bomb servitor out of spite… or the servitor's AI in her defense."

"Don't worry, Freddie. It's pretty much dead." Summer smiled under her helmet, the dark flames just having died out, as her weapon began to revert.

Barloc and Pyrrha walked out of the gunner seats as the room became silent. Everyone was trying to avoid the pollen-like bullets from Thorn's SMG mode, as it slowly reverted back to its original hand canon form. Frederick then turned towards the Boss' and his crew, and nodded to them. Him and the other guardians took it as their cue to leave, with Barloc staying firmly in place and Pyrrha looking around confused.

_Nobody had died here… so what's up?_ Was all Pyrrha could think in confusion.

"Summer. You know we could sense you from a mile away or more. What happened?" Frederick asked taking a seat on one of the troop seats.

"It's...nothing. Everything is fine." Summer replied albeit it was more to comfort herself more than an answer.

"Quit playing dumb." Barloc said flatly, staring at Summer with a disappointed gaze. "We received reports on a spike in neutrino energy… you decided to let Oryx work with you, didn't you? I could understand a small amount, but letting him in entirely to work in unison?"

"Your arm. NOW."

Summer sighed, as she knew if Frederick could sense it, everyone within the Cosmodrome had felt it. She transmatted her gauntlet and body glove piece, as Drei and Naomi came out and scanned Summer's scars. Instead of calm lines like before, they were sickly, thicker, and even glowed a small green light like that from the crystals from Oryx's ship. She looked away as the two ghosts scanned and scanned and ran tests.

"This is… disturbing." Naomi said aloud, floating back to Frederick's shoulder. "The darkness is stronger. And I have a feeling we all know where the Taken came from."

Drei said nothing, but everyone could tell he knew they were already blaming him for letting this happen. He himself was already blaming himself for what happened, for letting Summer unlock the sealed runes on Thorn in the first place.

The two guardians were rather silent as Frederick just stared at Summer, with Pyrrha looking worriedly at her, before departing, seeing as it'd just be awkward to be there at the moment. And her helm was not looking at his. Like that of a child who got caught doing what she wasn't supposed to do.

"Summer… what triggered your rage?"

"Sepiks… no-" Summer choked on the words and just shut her eyes, fearful visions of what Ruby would look like if she was fully infected with SIVA, with Penny standing by her side as she laughed in Aksis' voice. Images of Yang turning into another one of those monsters down in the Replication Chamber, as they ripped apart Qrow or Taiyang. "Aksis threatened to turn Ruby… by using Penny into...into-"

Frederick stepped closer.

"He threatened to turn your daughter into those things we fought on Mars." He finished her sentence rather devoid of emotion.

She nodded silently. Scared of what he might say. Many of the City think of her as a hero. But only few saw the Thorns of how cruel she could be. Letting Oryx coax her into channeling his own rage with hers, when she would have ran and got backup. She knew then and there that taking more power to fight that eye was just a horrible excuse to comfort herself with. She didn't know what to say or do. Her helmet transmatted into her storage, a silent request to Drei. She then looked at Frederick with tear-filled eyes.

And without a thought Frederick gave her a hug. Something she desperately needed right now from a friend or family. Her head rested against his cold chest plate. She could feel it on her skin. She looked at herself in Fred's blood red visor. Her eyes have changed as well. Within the Silver pools of sorrow for the power she used, she could see green pupils, no doubt due to Oryx's influence, burning with vengeance. Not against Frederick… but this blasted life, which had thrown disaster after disaster, death after death at her. She guessed she didn't realize it now but better late than never. She saw herself. She was really thinking and willing back then to kill her Ghost to save Ruby.

The green ember flames in her pupils left after a small bit of time. But she could still feel it in her heart. It was like a drug. The urge to use Oryx's power, to have such will over reality. Frederick with how spiritually sensitive he and many like him are. They can see it. But other Guardians would be in denial. The Darkness corrupting their "champions", their "paragons" from the inside out? Fred put a hand on her head like what a brother would do a crying wreck of a sister in need of comfort.

This was one of the reasons she never listened to the Speaker to avoid Frederick at all costs. He understood the power of the past. It is always inevitable, and without someone by one's side, legends would fall, giving way to the new. It was a twisted weapon to have in order to make many legends of hope. And whether or not he personally went through the same hell or not as she, he could empathize with her on things she would never go to the Speaker or Cayde about. Even some small personal things. This is what made them friends.

As they hugged, Frederick noticed a figure behind Summer. Seeing the figure behind her, he decided to make what was to come private, as he motioned for Barloc come in and say his peace, in which he did.

"I'm not going to say your exploration into the dark wasn't a good thing." Barloc said with crossed arms. "But your abuse of it isn't either. You need to be more careful from here on out to not be an idiot and get tempted."

Summer nodded in silence, and Barloc took it as his cue to continue.

"I understand what threats to one's kin do to the mind. But not staying in the middle between light and dark will bring your downfall." He then put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly, but his tone was anything but. "Keep a clear mind from here on out. I can twist the story to make it just seem like a fluke, but Cayde is going to have to know about this."

Summer's eyes widened. "You can't-"

"Your surrogate, unofficial father deserves the right to know." Summer looked down in guilt, as Barloc continued. "He wouldn't want to be surprised by this. Sudden conversion to full on darkness hurts more than anything else. And I'd certainly hate to see a hunter with an actual brain go down like this. You lot are rarer than people like Ikora, and yes, I have data confirming this."

Summer couldn't help but giggle at the fact Barloc did that, causing him to speak again."BUT, it doesn't make you able to handle both light and darkness at the same time."

Summer nodded, and then nearly collapsed from the exhaustion of both light and darkness having coursed through her, but caught herself on a troop seat with the assistance of Barloc. The pressure she didn't know she was under was gone. And so was the glow from her arms marks.

"Summer."

She looked up to where Frederick was standing.

"Oryx's physical form may be gone, but he's not dead, nor are his ambitions. He, and others like him, will stop at nothing. They will invade your dreams, whisper into your ears until you give in. Don't give them that authority."

She nodded as her gauntlet returned. Covering her sin from that day so long ago. She held it as if she were in some sort of ghost pain. She looked back at Frederick who opened his Ships ramp door. He looked back at her. But then did something he rarely does. She saw his hands move to the sides of his helmet. With a twist and a his from the seal he removed the bulky thing from his head. His blue darkened tired eyes looked at her. But he had a smile.

"My door is always open if you ever want to talk." He said as he went to his room, Naomi turning around and nodding at Summer as she followed him. "We both are."

Drei silent, still in shame of what he did. But Summer smiled. She nodded to him.

"Thanks Freddie." Summer said from the bottom of her heart.

"You're welcome kiddo." He replied playfully.

"You need to live for at least a couple decades now, Summer." Barloc said firmly, as he went to find Pyrrha. "Don't muck it up, if not for humanity, for the family you have. Stay out of battle if you have to, but the last thing we need is a resurgence of the Hive god in you, or you going ahead and taking a risk you shouldn't have."

As Barloc left the ship, no one but himself heard the mutter he let out. "And knowing those damn emo kids looking for her on Remnant, they'll probably force it to happen anyhow."

00000

**The Anime Guy: Hello everyone, we know you are waiting and it gets rather boring or frustrating to wait but do please be patient in chapters.**

**Now then, onto reviews.**

**Arines: Is anyone else having a kind of a hard time waiting for the story to get to Destiny 2 so Summer and Co can rescue saint-14? Also please let Cayde live**

**Anime Guy:That's still in progress but Rise of iron is our current focus atm**

**Diluation:The Red War events are going to be too important to simply gloss over, as a lot happens for the characters involved. We will be skipping stuff like Warmind though, as this series is mainly about Summer and Ruby, the latter of which you'll see more of. Soon.**

**Also, in regards to Cayde not dying, that'd mean either breaking a lot of canon, which goes against the whole point of fanfiction, or skipping Forsaken entirely. So I suppose today would be a good time to make a poll, and of course get his brother's opinion on this. First we'll do the latter though.**

**As for the pacing of this story, sorry, but I'd rather not bore/disappoint you guys with just the Rise of Iron campaign, and life isn't too keen about letting me do things on time at the moment, or letting me update more frequently. As some of you veteran Destiny players may have noticed, I took some liberties with SIVA. It is, in my opinion, one of the most underplayed elements of the franchise. The Aksis commentary and infected Hive aren't even from the original game, infected Hive having showed up twice with no uniqueness to them in the game, and Aksis was simply an addition to have some sort of prelude to the boss himself, like Omnigul's strike.**

**Aquilos: Omnigul didn't talk either, though?**

**Diluation:She did! Here, her dialogue is "AIEEEEEAAAA" and "AAARRRRRRRREEEEGGAAAA", along with mumbo-jumbo Hive noises!**

**Aquilos: That is scarily accurate, and I hate you for doing so.**

**Diluation:You're welcome**

**Dustiniz117: Just be patient my fellow readers, for as of now, we're in the beginning stages of creating a rough draft of both the sequel to Iron Rose and Red War itself, so please be patient.**

**Aquilos: We'll get to it. But timelines and plans have to be followed, not rushed.**

**doomforzombies:Ishtar collective and ffc podcast are good ways to keep up with the lore if you didn't already know of them.**

**Diluation:We have, and have been using them. But we're currently on Rise of Iron events, not Destiny 2 events.**

**And no, before anyone asks, we can't just skip to Shadowkeep or Season of Dawn. If we attempted to skip, we'd miss crucial events for characters that'd most obviously have their lives changed by. Say for example, the Warmind DLC. While we aren't covering Warmind, this event would be important for someone like Penny, as she'd get to know more of her newfound exo kin. Curse Of Osiris(which we're deciding to combine with Season Of Dawn), is also important, as… well, if we tried to talk about it, we'd enter spoiler territory. ;)**

**Sorry for delaying this by 5 days, but I had rather severe family issues that kept me from focusing on this pt2 of Road To Hell. I'll try to avoid this next chapter, and have it ready a little earlier than usual. We hope to see you guys there!**

_**~ In memory of Ptabs0101 ~**_

**Diluation edit:For some reason when we posted, they removed all formatting. Sorry about that!**


	21. Reconcile

"And you're certain that whatever drew the Taken there, was most likely the Splicers' doing?" Saladin asked as he stood before Barloc, who nodded confidently. Shiro was at Saladin's side, trying to review the HUD and ghost cam footage, only to find nothing of note.

"Something of that size must've taken a year. Long enough for them to have experimented with the leftover neutrinos manipulated by Oryx, mainly as a sub-branch." Barloc quickly re-explained to Saladin, keeping the momentum as Saladin was fully buying the lie. "While it may not have been their primary focus, it could be possible that the Splicers are using it to turn and mutate the Hive, as Oryx did his own. Otherwise, how else have they managed it in the past?"

"It's a viable explanation so far." Shiro-4 said as he got off the datapad. "But what of the fight? Scout reports say Frederick's ship took more damage than it should've been able to, and there was no footage of Summer for a nice duration of the fight."

"Another one of that man's 'miracles' I'd suppose." Barloc waved off the concern. "As for that, they had a tower fall on them. Separation was going to be long regardless for Drei, needing to venture through the destruction site."

Shiro tried to inquire further, but Saladin seemed comfortable with everything so far. He raised a hand, and Shiro went silent. "This isn't good at all… if the Splicers could manipulate the darkness like that; there would be no telling what they would do to the Traveler."

"Precisely. Which is why the Splicer Priest known as Kovik needs to be slain." Barloc confirmed as soon as the words left his mouth. "Now, I understand the severity of the situation, but may we take a week off? If not me and Pyrrha, Summer Rose."

Saladin raised an eyebrow, but Shiro went further. "You do realize that if we give them an inch-"

"We give them the world. But it might not end up being ours." Barloc cut off once again with a smirk, causing Shiro to glare at him while Saladin's eyes widened.

"You don't mean…"

"Aksis has made it public that he's taking the war to Remnant." Barloc announced. "While it could just be a threat meant to cause massive civil unrest and racism towards exos on Remnant; which make up 38% of all stationed guardians, it caused massive distress with Summer due to her family being there. I know the containment is important, but if we can just spare a-"

"Say no more." Saladin cut Barloc off. "Your private investigation of Remnant is allowed. I should've added extra quarantine measures… to think they manipulated it to the point where there could be hidden carriers…"

"Your understanding is truly transcendant, Lord Saladin." Barloc thanked the ancient warrior, as he then left the building without another word, passing by Tyra Karn as he did so. As soon as he walked down the steps and into the courtyard, his face became stoic as a body fell down unto the surface of the courtyard. He scoffed.

"And I thought today's weather channel said there were no foolish guardians trying to jump off the cliff without breaking their legs." He said as he looked up, making sure to dodge whatever bodies fell off the very top of the mountain. There were several whole raid teams of guardians up top, with almost two of them falling down every second unison. Every once in a while, one of the guardians would land on top of another, causing them to face-plant into the ground.

He had to wonder if guardians sometimes understood the importance of whatever they were aiming their guns at... or if they knew what they were supposed to be fighting to begin with. But some things just couldn't be helped.

Barloc walked up to Summer and Pyrrha, the two of whom went to the overwatch cliff in order to keep themselves out of the rain of guardians. Pyrrha was watching the rain with the most bewildered look on her face, while Summer just idly ate chimichanga as she watched Barloc come to them. As soon as his footsteps were heard over the sound of guardians breaking their own legs and skulls, Pyrrha turned to Barloc.

"Why is everyone trying to survive such a high fall?" Pyrrha couldn't help but ask with a dead serious face on her features.

"Practice and idiocy. They'll be at this for a nice hour or so." Barloc idly waved off Pyrrha's concerns, as he looked at Summer. "You've been sanctioned to return to Remnant for a week to check on your family. It was difficult to bring the argument for such a thing together, so you best make this count."

Summer nodded, as she finished a bite from her chimichanga. "Do they know about-"

"That one was easy to waive."

She gave out a sigh of relief while still eating her dish. They then heard heavyfoot falls and turned their heads to Frederick who had just hopped off his ship from having to repair multiple electrical and weapons systems that were damaged.

"I'm not sure how long that will last though. Granted the Speaker would do a lot to hide it knowing him. So you can go back home? That's great." Frederick replied while wiping his gloved hands in a rag.

Summer looked away and nodded. Which then a thought came to her.

But before she could voice such a thought, Barloc had turned to Frederick. "Ah, Frederick. I assume you're also going to help out in assisting Summer with the whole 'sword of the past' thing?"

Summer jumped at how accurate Barloc was to what she was thinking, as Barloc simply kept his gaze on Frederick. "How did you know I was also going to-?"

"A warlock always has their ways, Summer." Barloc said nonchalantly, only just recalling what Qrow relayed in regards to the previous team reactions before he and Pyrrha came to assist. "And besides, you are almost literally stuck with your past now. I wouldn't be surprised if you tried to find the location in which you first died."

"That always stuck out to me." Pyrrha said as she looked to Barloc. "How did Summer wind up here, instead of Remnant?"

Barloc merely shrugged. "Perhaps it was a secret organization. Or forces we've yet to comprehend. Regardless, she's here now, and we still have work to do." Barloc watched a guardian land on his crotch, before bouncing off and rolling into the Iron Campfire. Fortunately, there were no screams from that, as the guardian was in too much pain already from the several meters high nutcrack. "You two should make it your priority to check on family, and take time to find Summer's first death. Pyrrha and I should be able to handle the Splicer Priest known as Kovik on our lonesome."

Before Pyrrha could even raise the question, Barloc continued. "Scout reports say that it is a strike activity, but upon examining the layout with a drone, it looks to be little more than a mission, especially considering Pyrrha's abilities. The giant Hive seeder or various metal compartments around should be able to crush Kovik and whatever goons he pulls out of nowhere." Barloc then went to his datapad, opening up photos of the layout of Kovik's Lair and handing it to Pyrrha. "If anyone has any questions or concerns, they may raise them. Otherwise, it'd be best if we get to work as of now."

Pyrrha raised a hand, and Barloc looked to her. "Yes?"

"Why exactly aren't we just being paired up with another guardian, Barloc?" Pyrrha couldn't help but ask. "I mean, what if there's a trap, or the building is rigged with explosives?"

"The splicers would have too many valuables inside his lair even after his death." Barloc swiftly answered. "And the Splicers have been more focused on infecting rather than actually setting up traps at the moment. Probably because they think we've become distracted enough without Summer Rose leading the charge. As for just the two of us handling it, my calculations say we have a 77% chance of dealing with this strike ourselves, without dying. Though it is technically illegal to attempt this without a full team, much less a guardian leader, we both have the necessary combat experience and capabilities to do it as well. Next?"

"Other then i need to return home to get my portable smithing equipment nothing really." Frederick replied he then turned to Summer. "You wanna go looking for your old Sword Summer?"

She smiled while still having food in her mouth after taking the last bite of her Chimichanga.

"Uv Kors I Wunt oo." Summer said while childishly talking with her mouth fill

"*sigh* Summer Swallow before you speak your not a child!" Frederick reprimand her as that of a annoyed brother

"I bet that's what she said last night." Summer said after she gulped down the last of her food, smirking as she did so.

"That's it, when I meet Tai again and Lux Im a choke em." Frederick said while his eyebrow twitches uncontrollably with rage at Summers innocence being gone.

"Well on the contrary, Summer Rose, what, 3 years old now? Pyrrha, let me look at the datapad to see recent events." Pyrrha then handed the datapad to Barloc. "...Yep, 8 years old. Don't you just love it when a guardian starts out as a fully grown adult, but gradually deteriorates to a worse state of mind?"

"Says the several decades old warlock."

"Summer, I will stab you."

"Isn't she 10? No, wait, that's not right I'm 11, came about 2 years prior to her... so that makes her 9." Frederick corrected Barloc. "Either way I'm ready to head to the City when you are Summer. And hopefully Tai and Qrow are ready for transport and are in good health, because I'm ripping his head off his spine for making Summer have an interest in puns."

Barloc looked at the datapad critically. "Blasted, need to perform surgery on my eyes again…"

"Could you not kill my first life's husband Freddie?" Summer replied

"That man and Lux had basically destroyed your innocencem because now your cracking innuendos. I don't like innuendo Summer. Or the puns." Frederick replied defending his decision.

"We're getting off track, people." Barloc interrupted the squabbling. "As much as we despise Tai, exception being Summer of course for their combined immaturity, this is mainly just a convening so we are all in agreement of what we're about to do. Frederick, you can beat Tai up after this war against Aksis."

"Fine…." Frederick grunted in disappointment, as Summer smiled awkwardly at Barloc, half thankful for asking Frederick to not go after him, and slightly miffed Barloc still didn't think much of Tai.

"It is mainly because I hadn't set it up so that every guardian who's experienced Summer's puns gets their dues." Barloc continued. "I'm estimating at least 12.33, repeating of course, percentage of guardians having experienced Summer's nuisances. Payback is best served all at once, so I'm currently identifying them."

Summer's face fell flat as Barloc chuckled at her reaction. "Barloc! Why would you do that to my pun buddy?!"

"PUN DADDY!?" Frederick shouted so loud that even the splicers all the way in the Cosmodrome could hear it. "THAT'S IT! HE'S DEAD AND I'M DRAWING FIRST BLOOD!"

Though thankfully Pyrrha's Semblance was holding him back from getting on his ship and leaving immediately, while it looked like a comical ranting anime man. Barloc had already doubled, no, tripled over in laughter at how many stones were inside of Frederick's ear for him to have heard that, while Summer sputtered, blushing at how Frederick somehow made a false assumption about her and Tai. They hadn't even went on a date yet for crying out loud! And to top it all off, some of the guardians had heard the outburst, and were now looking at them strangely.

She ended up covering her hood as Pyrrha struggled to keep Frederick in place, a strained expression of amusement and confusion as to why Barloc isn't even trying anything. Eventually though, Barloc gathered his wits, and simply put a hand on Frederick's shoulder. "No you giant dolt, you got stones in your ears? It was buddy, not 'daddy'."

"I DON'T CARE! I will wear that guy's ass for a helmet, and I will feed you to Saladin's wolves if you try to stop me!" Frederick yelled at Barloc in a rather demonic tone with Red eyes popping from his visor to boot. But he did calm down hearing that he misheard what Summer said. It was then they heard one of the wolves whine.

This caused them all to look at a trio of wolves that were getting annoyed with having to throw bodies down a cliff, as they were all coming from the rain of guardians falling down from above. Some of them had blood on their maw from how long they were working on disposing of the extra corpses.

Pyrrha then looked to Summer and tilted her head in confusion. "Is Frederick your long lost adopted brother or father?" She asked. "Because he's giving off that vibe which is cute but also really terrifying…."

"I love foolhardy titans who instantly jump straight ahead like this." Barloc chuckled, recalling the amount of times he's lead titans to their demise in the Crucible, particularly moments where he shotgunned titans using shoulder charge or grenaded them with a sticky grenade. "Such meager intellect…"

"Didn't he almost beat you in a game of-"

"We are not talking about that." Barloc interrupted Summer almost immediately after he heard the word 'game'.

"Anywho…" Frederick said while still pissed beyond words at the mere thought of Tai corrupting Summer with his puns even further, as he hoped to god it wasn't also on her daughters. "Let's go Summer. We have… family to visit. And yes, I won't kill your ex husband."

"We didn't even divorce." Summer pointed out while keeping the hood on and over her face, just to correct Freds statement on "Ex". "It was a widowing."

"But! We have places to go and people to leave on Remnant anyway. Lets go."

Pyrrha was just baffled by the man that was getting on the ship, as Barloc basked in what was equivalent to guardian wholesomeness. He had thoroughly enjoyed that moment.

"Is he… ok? He's not mentally ill is he?"

"You're asking space warriors who had to fight war for decades if they're ok?" Barloc answered in response to her question, before smiling at her. "I'm jesting. Assuming he's taking proper care of the people around him, there isn't much else that is necessary. Guardians value family above all else, and he's doing just that."

"But... the whole death thing towards Tai-"

"That reminds me actually, I really need to figure out a way to get back at him for tainting that Rose girl with puns." Barloc said as he hummed in thought. "Teabags, perhaps? No no no, that's too good for having Summer learn that as a coping mechanism, one that's irritating nonetheless…"

Pyrrha blushed at the idea being raised already. "What's with you guardians and your teabags?!"

"What's with you mortals not understanding of our culture? It isn't that hard to see since most of us live as long as you in our line of duty!"

After a moment of pure silence, both sides collectively went. "Wait… we don't have our own ship."

Pyrrha looked to Barloc.

Barloc looked back at Pyrrha. "What?"

"Did Saladin give us permission to borrow a-"

"Nope."

00000

As Frederick's ship took off, Summer took the time to try and recall where that sword was, of which she did so by sleeping. Surprisingly, not a single dream was coming to her, and all the while she could hear the ship flying through the atmosphere to the gateway down in the Cosmodrome. She couldn't even remember what the sword even looked like, much less if it had any ability to transform or not. She hoped that when she recalled what it was or found it, it wasn't just a basic sword with no gun transformation. She may not know much of her past life, but she always wanted a sword with her guns, as it just made sense at the time to add it… along with axes, bows, maces, chainsaws, other things that are completely normal to add into a mecha-shifting weapon.

Her forehead wrinkled in frustration as she kept trying, only for a major headache to force her back. With a weak groan, she got off of her comfy little spot in the ship to nurse it as Drei came up. "You didn't sleep well this time. Something up?"

"It's about the weapon. I was trying to dream about it to gain access to the memories, but nothing came up." Summer said as she looked around for an ice pack. "I couldn't think about what I was specifically holding my first death. It was just a sword, but I don't recall anything about a gun feature."

"It doesn't have one?" Drei said as he transmatted one into her palm for her. "That's surprising. I thought you would've had one yourself with how much you pushed the issue back then. Perhaps you should ask Ruby?"

She raised an eyebrow at Drei's suggestion. "I don't think Ruby or Yang know where I died… I believe Ozpin said it was never clear where I was except deep in the grimmlands."

"No no, it's for the whole mecha-shift thing." Drei asserted. "Perhaps you wanted to turn the sword into a scout rifle, but you were probably an orphan at the time."

"They probably know more about that, yeah." Summer agreed, as she looked at a datapad while using an ice pack. "I don't know why I never had it though… I'll just contact her."

She decided to get on the scroll with Ruby, and after a few rings, she heard her pick up the scroll with a yawn. "Hey mom." She said in a hushed, kind of tired tone. "What's up? Is that SIVA thing Saladin is having you handle almost over?"

"No, but I am taking a break to check up on you girls. Aksis just recently threatened that he had Penny infected, and was going to use her as a bomb on you."

"What!?" Ruby almost yelled out, before quickly hushing herself. "This Aksis guy has Penny?"

"Supposedly." Summer assured. "Barloc thought it a bluff meant to spread false rumors over in Remnant to cause panic, so we just asked Saladin to let us investigate. I'm coming over with a friend who's also concerned about someone else over there as well."

Ruby sighed in relief on the other line. "Is Pyrrha doing okay? The other guardians said she might be confused about their line of work."

00000

Pyrrha watched as guardians danced over a large pile of chips covered in cheese powder, some even worshipping it while consuming it. At some point, they had run out of cheese, and asked the chef if there was more cheese to eat. They then began chasing the chef around with swords and torches when they found out there was no cheese. Other guardians meanwhile were just climbing the mountain, or just dancing on a very thin pole. Some just straight up danced in the air. There was even a crucible match going on in the background, as Shaxx brokered a deal with Saladin to have that the area behind the Iron Temple be available to fight in. Which meant she got to see the brutality of guardians in full.

It was then Barloc came out with a hot cup of chocolate, staring at the scene before him as he then took a sip. "Just another Tuesday Pyrrha, nothing to see here."

Pyrrha nodded slowly as she watched a guardian get shot with an arrow in the knee. Moments later, everyone else was using a bow, and sticking arrows in the enemy team's knees.

She wondered what happened to the days where long living warriors would just chat and drink tea. Which sounded pretty good right about now, as she then saw guardians dancing in the flames of the Iron Temple as if the heat didn't bother them.

00000

"She's doing well I think." Summer said, not quite certain if Pyrrha was faring well either. "Some of the stuff over here she saw as a bit weird for her, but otherwise she just took it in stride. She really is quite the prodigy where she came from."

"Yeah she is. Top of her class in Mistral too. So you're coming home for a visit? That's so cool!" Ruby couldn't help but giggle a bit in excitement at the prospect.

Summer couldn't help but smile at Ruby being excited at the whole thing, no matter how temporary it was. She almost wished right then and there that she didn't have to continue fighting off the darkness just so she could get to make up for the lost time the two of them ended up having.

"One sec before you head to bed, Ruby? I'm guessing it is pretty late over there."

"Hm? Oh no! No no no, it's not that late mom. Never too late to-" Ruby then yawned. "...Okay, maybe it is a bit late."

She chuckled at Ruby's willingness to stay up for her. "What did my sword look like? Tai or Qrow ever talk about it?"

A long silence befell the other side of the line, as Ruby scratched her head for an answer. "Dad said that it was a basket-hilted sword, broadsword kind of weapon. You couldn't afford any mecha-shifting due to how you lived, so it was pretty much just that. I originally wanted to go for that, but Qrow convinced me on the whole scythe bit."

"Scythes are pretty cool." Summer couldn't help but agree. "Did I ever express a desire in making it a mecha-shifting weapon?"

"You always wanted to add a semi-automatic rifle mode to it before you graduated and ended up needing to go through it all again despite being an amazing huntress who-" Ruby went silent for a moment. "Well, it's why Crescent Rose is a sniper rifle. I felt like I wanted to honor you for bringing me into this world in some way as I followed in your footsteps."

That caused Summer to pause in realization, a revelation of which sent chills into her very soul. _She couldn't keep her safe forever even if she wanted to. _"I do hope you know what a path you've trudged down upon Ruby. I did die doing it after all."

"And to me too…" Ruby said in guilt for a moment. "B-but everything is ok! My studies are fine, and everything is almost back to normal now! ...Well, as everything could be. The poor janitors have to clean up so many guardian bodies that are often just left around, and the school occasionally smells of burnt flesh, especially on Fridays…"

Summer couldn't help but cringe at how every guardian stationed on Remnant was causing such a ruckus in the public. There were some things she never really thought about until now, like the one time she saw a guardian run on a purple ball all the way up to the Moon. Or the fact that guardians fought over exotics. Not that she could blame them much, since she's always the one getting them first.

She wondered why she never found Necrochasm, though. Out of all the exotics or weapons of sorrow she obtained in her journeys, she never got to find that fabled weapon.

Ruby's voice then chimed through. "So you're going around Remnant to try and look for it?"

"Boltcaster kind of broke." Summer swiftly answered. "The replacement Saladin forged for me was nice, but it's not quite the same not having both range and swordplay anymore."

"Awww, what happened to Boltcaster?" Ruby sounded downcast as her voice came through. "I thought it would be impossible to break."

"We'll talk about that later when we get home. Sleep tight, Ruby!"

There was a little 'aww' as she finished, but her voice came through chipper when Summer ended things. "'Kay! Night mom!"

As the line clicked, Summer couldn't help but say aloud to herself. "Goodnight my little rose…"

00000

After managing to hitch a ride from a friendly guardian, the ex-guardian and Mistral champion came before the Lunar Complex. Rumors had been raised about the possibility of a second ketch by the Splicers being hidden in this very area, as the one closest to the breach in the wall, both by the guardian forces in the area, and the non-spliced fallen scouts who had been venturing around the area to be confirming these rumors. The Vanguard had made it a top priority to track down and destroy the Ketch before it infected the whole solar system with SIVA pods.

"Eramis, any sights on the enemy forces ahead?"

Eramis scoped in with her bow, looking in from behind one of the many broken down ships in the area. "**Har Bo bar. Dra don, des dres nas yun yur Rahndel."**

Pyrrha looked to Barloc for a translation.

"It means that we're given the all clear." Barloc said as he pressed forth with the crew behind him. "The latter is meant to give praise to Rahndel."

"I really have no clue how you heard that."

"Language is hard unless you're a warlock." Barloc stated as if it was a matter of fact. "But that isn't what we're here for. You have the motes you need for this mission?"

Pyrrha quickly checked her container, which was absolutely overflowing.

"Just about enough to cleanse a stolen a ketch… at least, to your crazy calculations."

00000

**Diluation:Sorry for the extra day delay. We wanted to make sure this didn't come out with any formatting errors, and also had to converse over what was the sword of Summer's first life. The notes of Ptabs' didn't specify what type of sword it was(curved, short, long, great, etc.).**

**Shaelee the Space Marine: Why are you guys skipping the Warmind DLC when its arguably a better DLC then the Eye of Osiris.**

**Diluation:Because Warmind wouldn't be of much interest to Summer Rose or RWBY later on. We in the game just happened to stumble onto the plot, having no drive or director leading us to the scenario. Sure it has great plot and lore, but the drive just isn't there, especially for the main characters of this fanfic series that we're attempting to do..**

**It would be better if Warmind became a side-story meant for another character, probably Penny. Penny would gain much out of the DLC, whereas for RWBY and Nero, they just get to kill a giant worm along with Oryx's last son over and over, and talk as they do EP where there's no stakes due to lack of darkness zone. That's pretty much it beyond the new raid lair in terms of villains, threats, and reason for being there. **

**Meanwhile, when we took a look at CoO, we can see an opportunity to combine it with Season Of Dawn and hit two plots with one arc. There's also more, but we'd need to go to the Red War for that to be talked about.**

**Guest: Guardian versions of Delta Squad from Republic Commando. Much Respect. **

**Animeak: Thanks. This is actually their second appearance, but you'll have to look in the side-stories.**

**Diluation:Some of which are still being edited through. There's also a couple others that I've spotted and are now considering, but otherwise said side-stories might be hampered a bit in quality… I've been trying to edit when I can, but school and this story come first before I can turn much attention to other stories.**

**Next chapter, we reconvene with team RWBY on Remnant, and Summer's new team undergo the heist of a century:Stealing the Splicers' ketch. Make sure you come around in a couple to see it happen!**

_**~ In memory of Ptabs0101 ~**_


	22. Terrors Of Red

She watched as her mother kneeled and let her fingers toil through the soft earth. Her mother smiled and looked up to see a lake and there cabin nearby with Yang on a chair reading a book as Tai was cooking steaks. Lux, Prometheus and Cayde decided to have a drawing match between one another. So far, the score was 7 - 117.

"I'm telling you guys, it's the pants!" Cayde said with an infuriating exo grin. "They're lucky!"

"Bull $&! ing $?!& Cayde." Lux said with a growl. "Nobody can draw that fast!"

"I agree." Prometheus said with a cold glare. "That just can't be normal draw speed. It is mere milliseconds off from my calculations."

"Well, care to share them?" He challenge, still holding his grin. "Because you'd still be able to win against this."

A ship then came in, it transmatting a familiar face.

"Evening folks." Shin Malphur said as he walked up to his sister's family. "What's going on in this little world of ours today? I just got back from a Nightfall, solo job."

"Uncle Shin!" Ruby let out in excitement, Summer only chuckling at Cayde letting out a small exo whine of despair. "You're back!"

"I'd assume the nightfall was _cakewalk, _eh Shin? Hope your _cam _recorded you _baking _them."

"You bet it was as easy as a crucible match." He said with a grin, as he looked to the three in their shootout. He raised a brow. "Something up you three?"

Summer and Ruby smiled as Shin then came in, drawing faster than Cayde several times and showing the two guardians that Cayde wasn't exactly lying about his pants, which caused Lux and Prometheus to chase after Cayde with supers.

"It's so peaceful." Summer said.

"Yea it is."

However when Ruby looked up it slowly but surely became night. She heard an awful sound of crackling, sizzling flesh and bone. But also like that of a glitching computer. She looked behind herself and saw Six black cloaked figures. With white masks they said and did nothing. Like stalkers of the night.

"Ruby."

Ruby slowly looked back to see her mother standing up. But something was off. Especially in her voice. It sounded distorted…..like something possessed her.

"Mom?" Ruby said with a bit of fear.

"Do you know of the Darkness? The many times I've called upon it? How it's tainting my soul ...slowly becoming darker?"

Ruby was now getting scared as the world was becoming colder. Her mother then looked back at her. Holding out her hand Ruby tried to reach out to Summer. But she was held back by two of the black cloaked and masked figures as the other four appeared behind her and slowly approached behind Summer who only smiled. But slowly it grew more sinister. Then one of the four black cloaked masked figures placed a whole mask over Summers face and she went limp. The other two had a black cloak in hand ready to catch her.

The final one snapped its fingers, and a coffin made of wood came out of nowhere and Summer was placed in it. The four figures then lifted the coffin and carried it down a river. Ruby continued to struggle calling out to her mother to wake up and not let whatever these figures are taken from her. Then the one of the two figures holding her back took its two fingers and one thumb and placed them on Ruby's forehead and she was forced into a coma.

She heard the sound of a female but shrieking like voice as she slowly began to wake.

_**"I am the lies of morrows, This is not my words but proficiency. A new Queen will rise and fall to the sky, and no light will remain in either system of you wretched twist of logical fallacies. Many will die, and many will be ground into chitin for our own use. And none will stop this. For it is the will of the Darkness that all weak life must be erased from existence. And we are their instruments." **_

00000

Ruby woke up sweating. Her breath came and went as if she couldn't for so long. Hugging her arms together she let some tears fall trying to shake the nightmare away. But the words kept coming back to her thoughts. She then looked to her nightstand and opened the drawer. Seeing the stone that Xur gave her. The engraved glyphs glowed its sky blue slightly.

Clenching it and holding it close to her chest she remembers the words the stone said to her. But she couldn't help herself but still feel like she needed to get it off her chest. So she pocketed the stone and picked her scroll and pushed the icons that said "Uncle Shin". Placing the speaker to her ear she waited for the other side to pick up. And he did.

"_Hey Rubes." _The sounds of bullets being fired in the background were heard, as Shin too fired his golden gun. His voice came out chipper even as he fought. "_What do you need?" _

"Hi Uncle Shin." She hesitated for a moment. "By any chance you're free before classes start here?"

"_Is something the matter?"_

"Do you think you can come to the top of the dorm?"

"_Sure I'll be there. Just tell-" _The sounds of the firefight we're getting louder as he fought. "_Hold on, these damn grimm and Fang are -_"

His connection timed out and she slowly and quietly got dressed, into her regular attire. And grabbed her Crescent Rose. She then quietly left the room and quickly got to the top of the roof. Waiting for the man with the golden gun. She sat quietly and waited, every once and a while rubbing her thumb across the surface of the stone in her pocket.

A jumpship then came over and Shin was transmatted to the roof. She then turned to him and smiled a bit in relief.

"Hey Uncle Shin." She said.

"Hey kid, what do you need?" Shin asked, putting his hands on his belt.

"Have you ever had dreams that where real? Or something just didn't seem right? Like ...words that were spoken where to real?"

"Sometimes but I don't sleep unlike your mother who would probably nap up for several months." Shin replied.

"Oh ...well has anyone…..ever ...well said anything about black cloaked figures with white masks in their dreams?" Ruby asked

She didn't notice, but Shin flinched a little.

"Yes and no. I've heard rumors from the tower about apparently people seeing creatures like that. Fairly certain it should be hogwash though." Shin replied.

"Oh… are you sure?"

"I'm positive, it's only a coincidence that you'd seen such figures. Have you ever listened to your friend's music, or seen any music videos of those figures?"

"Oh, I remember Daisy showing me one music video she had on her scroll, but those figures looked totally different." Ruby replied

"It's probably your imagination re-imagining the figures. They look similar but each time their different." Shin replied. He normally would've went ahead and started teasing the girl, but he didn't feel like it was appropriate. Plus he had taken an arrow to the knee, and the wound was still healing, despite Clint doing his best to heal it up.

Ruby sighs as she is getting nowhere but was at least happy Uncle Shin was able to calm her nerves if not a little.

"Ok thanks then. Even though it's probably just dreams."

"You're welcome Kiddo." Shin replied.

He watched as Ruby went through the door on the rooftop back into the dorms. However his gaze narrowed.

"So the Darkness is trying to reach her." Shin thought.

Clint his ghost appears as he faces him.

"You think you should have told her? Mostly the bits where a guardian becomes a dredgen, that they see those exact figures in some forests with red leaves?" Clint asked, skeptical of Shin's decision there.

"All guardians do really, especially those who don't hold all their faith in the Traveler. It's a good thing we veterans put a lot of resources towards making sure those newborn don't go after them… but we have to keep watch."

"And if she falls to the lies?" Clint asked.

"She's too pure-hearted and Innocent to fall like that. Summer on the other hand, well..." Shin paused as he thought more about Summer. He had no doubt that Cayde had sent some sort of spy on her to check on her for him, but he knew Summer better than anyone else. She always had a way of getting people to only look at the rose, and not the thorns that came with it. Even he struggled to find out about her issues.

"Well, one thing's for sure. The Darkness is at it again. And if the reports from Glynda are correct, we know who brought it here."

"They can only do dreams at the moment, thankfully." Shin sighed as he sat down. "There's a lot of work to be done."

"You and me both Shin." Clint replied as they both got transmatted back to his ship that floated above the dorms.

However as the ship leaves. A black cloaked figure watched them go where Ruby once stood. Its white mask looked at the ship going away. And red eyes appeared in the sockets before disappearing into thin air.

_**"My prison is not my own. A sentence passed not for me. But what YOU imposed." **_

00000

Ilia Amitola woke up to the banging on her cell door. Looking to the side she saw an officer hit the bars again with his metal baton making sure she was up. She rose from her bed and got out from under the blankets and the guard moved on. She sighs as she stands up and stretches. Her orange jumpsuit stretching with her. The price for being a freedom fighter for your people. When the people wont stand up and do the dirty work necessary. She would be the first to volunteer. And the first to spill blood.

Her cell door opened as well as her cell mates doors. Walking down the halls to the cafeteria for breakfast she past all the whispers of the male and female inmates casually saying things like "can't wait for bail." Or "fuck this place". As they all got trays and where given their food. Illa repulsed at her tray of slop and how terrible it smelled. Walking away from the line and sitting down at a table alone. She started eating. It even tasted terrible as well. She found herself holding her breath as to not throw up at the repugnant smell and tried to make the food avoid her tongue.

It was a deterrence to help prisoners get their acts to make them believe prison is not good food and doing things at your leisure while under constant watch. It was hell, and she had nobody to contact to begin with. Many new inmates were her fellow brothers and sisters of Adam's Vale faction that's now shattered and splintered all over the world. Thankfully Atriox has plans for the faction that will help get them out of the prison… even if said prison was reinforced by space warriors with rockets that explode and unleash more rockets...

She's afraid of what else was rumored alongside the still planned Vale attempt, but believes that whatever was to come was necessary if they are to subjugate the humans, and force out the guardians. As much as she disliked forcing others into the fight, it was either have no one to fight with, or have. But those who aren't or people that are already White Fang extremists are the only ones in. And so was she. She just needed to get out of here.

But for now she sat and ate her horrid breakfast in compliance. When she was done she put her tray on a rotation machine that took her tray to the back of the kitchen to be washed. She was then lead to a courtyard where the prisoners were they did whatever they wanted but it was either exercising or something productive like smashing boulders and rocks for a new expansion for the prison. Basically exercise or hard labor.

Ilia was only able to exercise as to get up into shape with all the other inmates that were toiling away. The routine was tiring, and she knew the work ahead would be equally so. After doing a set of pull ups from a long work out she walked to a vending machine and put in a couple of credit coins into it.

As she drank some water, she looked up to the sniper towers. Hunters were stationed up on top of them, some of them being so bored they decided to goof off. They engaged in sniper fights with the others using spare sniper rifles, which were loaded with plastic bullets that couldn't even hurt them. Some even decided to do trickshots, and some danced while shooting one another, or just focused on the dance. She knew though that trying to run through was a bad idea. The last one who tried to get out was castrated.

And brothers help her, she wasn't taking a bullet to the-

"Ilia Amitola, Report to processing immediately."

She was surprised at this and she walked to the entrance to the courtyard. She was then probed for anything contraband she might have other then her energy drink. After being cuffed and escorted to processing she was given a clean set of clothes and sent to the washroom. After showering and putting on clean clothes she walked out looking like an everyday teen rather than a prisoner in a jail.

She was then cuffed again and escorted to the paper pushers section of the jail. Getting fingerprints again and updating her criminal record. She was then sent to evidence where the guard inside had her signed off on her scroll and wallet. One didn't even need to imagine why she wasn't allowed to have a weapon at that point.

She was then finally escorted to the front entrance of the jail where two people were waiting, faunas. One had a drop leg holster for a side arm. The prison guard then uncuffed her and brought her down to the two people.

"She's all yours." The Guard replied.

One of them nods and signs the paperwork. The door opened to the car and the woman waved her hand to enter. She hesitated, not fully in with what was happening.

"Well Ilia? It's time to go." The woman said.

"We can turn you over to your watcher in warm and unbound. Or knocked out cold." One of guards said coldly. "Your choice, rebel."

Seeing as she had no choice, she went into the car. The woman then closed the door as the guard went up to the front seats. The car started and was on the move. However what they didn't know was that someone was watching them. And it wasn't the Guards, one of which drove as the other looked looked back at Ilia, who was nervous about taking out her scroll.

"This is Officer Leon Ilia, he'll be your watcher for your duration of community service." The woman said as if all this was completely normal, one of the guards, a dog faunus in particular, giving a friendly wave in response to that. "Be sure to-"

"Who are you?"

The woman paused for a second before continuing. "Naomi Himawari. The Belladonnas Family Lawyer, former Bounty Hunter." The woman said, before slapping her on the wrist. "And as I was saying… be sure to be on your best behavior."

Ilia nodded as she rubbed her wrist. She knew the reputation of a Bounty Hunter, and who's guilds were the best in Remnant. However as she turned her head to the right she started to notice a few cars in the woods.

Leon, the other guard, and Himawari immediately activated their auras as Leon got on the radio.

"This is Wolf Pack 1 to Tower Actual we have two vans at 9 o'clock?"

"_Wolf pack 1 to Tower actual, we did not send escort vecs over." _

He cursed under his breath as he pulled up the center console lid, pulling out a pistol. The woman and other Guard did the same, and both cocked their weapons. She then pointed her pistol at the window of the passenger side window. Luckily the glass on their car was tinted so other two vans didn't have the chance to see that they had weapons.

And with careful aim. Himawari pulled the trigger several times as Leon immediately rolled the window down. The passenger of Van 1 was immediately killed as the glass broke to reveal Illas White Fang brothers and sisters, who were attempting to save her. She then fired several more shots at the through the dead body causing the driver of van 1 to hesitate on a turn and immediately hit a tree due to the gun fire. The driver however was flung through the windshield and into the tree as well with the dead body.

Himawari immediately reloaded her pistol as the second and last van tried to pull up from behind them. But before two shots rang out and Van 2 was immediately unstable as it flipped out onto its own hood. Leon rolled up the window and sighed as he kept his pistol on his lap. Himawari just sighs in frustration as well.

"That's the third time something like this happened." Leon grunted.

_"This Tower Actual to Wolf pack 1." _The radio went off

"This is Wolf Pack 1 to Tower actual, thanks for the assist." Leon said into it.

"_You're welcome Wolf Pack. Guardians are immediately heading to the van crash sites opening up the gates to Kuo Kuana._"

The gates to the City of Kuo Kuana where opened up and the car drove past and they immediately closed. The Hunter guardian who had assisted them idly threw a grenade up into the air, and shot it after doing a 360 mid-air. He then proceeded to freak out about it.

"That was one hell of a drive." Leon stated as he drove up to the Orphanage and put away his pistol.

He then opened his door and looked at the car to make sure the car wasn't damaged. After doing so he opened up Ilia's door and pointed her to get out. She does so and when she looks up to see the Orphanage. Her eyes widened in disbelief. The door opened and there stood a man with grey crazy hair like that of a mad doctor. With small glasses with a pipe.

"Professor Kirke what a pleasure to see you again!" Naomi Himawari said.

"And it is nice to see you my dear." He then looked at her parole officer. "Leon! What an unexpected visit! The children are gonna be ecstatic you're back!" Prof. Krikes eyes then went to Illa and while his eyes widened they held a bit of disappointment and sighs.

"So, we meet again don't we Illa?"

Illa looked down in regret as all three walked up to the door.

"Come inside, no need to keep these matters outdoors." Prof. Krirke stated as they went inside.

00000

It was now the afternoon in Vale as the class was getting prepared for Lord Shaxx's lesson. The hulking titan walked into the class, as students poured into the room. They, along with RWBY, were getting amped up for the challenge to come, and not in a positive way. Most were wondering if today would finally be the day Lord Shaxx manages to break some of their bones, while others just dreaded the class itself. Ruby and her team were just about to enter, when they suddenly felt an imposing presence upon than and Ruby getting a tug on her shoulder. Turning around she saw Shin standing behind them. "Hey."

Blake nearly jumped into the roof at the sound of his voice, while Weiss 'gracefully' fell onto the floor as Yang spun on her heel, about to attack only for her to realize who was in the way. Ruby however, reacted like it was just Uncle Qrow visiting again. "Uncle Shin!"

"Jeez, Shin!" Yang said as she pulled back, her fist just mere inches from accidentally hitting Ruby. "You have to use your void light like that to get us all wound up?"

"Aw, and where is the fun in that? And besides I wouldn't be a fun uncle if I didn't scare the four of you from time to time." Shin replied with a smirk under his helmet.

"I think what the warlocks are saying about Hunters are fairly accurate…" Weiss muttered, as she opened up an online book regarding the behavior of hunters over the course of the years. She had to raise an eyebrow at how hunters were at first mature and had an even 50/50 gender ratio, but swapped to being almost all girls and immature in nature. At least, it was in accordance to the warlock that had written it.

"Don't trust that thing, Ice Princess. It's not set in stone and only applies to those under the command of the Vanguards." Shin replied crossing his arms.

He then looked to Ruby, not minding Weiss's rebuke on why warlocks were a valued source of information.

"Hey Kid, I want to teach you something." Shin said

"But what about Class with Lord Shaxx?" Ruby asked

He went past them and into the classroom for a moment. "Hey Shaxx. Mind if I borrow Ruby?"

Shaxx cut out of the introduction to his class for a moment to look at Shin. "Ah, Shin! No, it's fine for you to take her. I'll have her absences pardoned for as long as you need her." He then looked behind Shin, seeing the rest of the team. "Though I don't suppose that should extend to the rest of her team?"

He shook his head, causing Yang to wish she looked more like Ruby so she could've been confused with them. "More of a silver eyes thing. Sorry."

As Ruby and Shin went off, Yang waved them goodbye as Weiss and Blake did the same. None of them heard Yang mutter in envy of her little sister. "Dangit, it's like her eyes give her plot armor…"

00000

Shin and Ruby walked out into a courtyard where it was secluded and they were alone.

"Hold out your hand."

She obeyed but what she saw next was quite aww inspiring. Shin held out his hand underneath hers and a purple flame emitted from it her hands felt the heat of the void. Yet if was calling to her. Telling her something in a language she could not understand. But as she focused on the purple flames. One voice stood out.

"_**First of the void to hold in a hand. Given to one whose righteous time is at last. Use it well and wise against those of might. Like a serpent who loves to lie in plain sight. Walls of fire will erupt from your touch. To help warm those whose hearts are hard to trust.**_"

She could hear that chant over and over in her head. She then focused her inner light. Her eyes glowed underneath her eyelids as she concentrated.

"Remember when using the eyes. Think of those whom you hold so dear. To protect them from Harm and seek justice for the weak. To break down the strong and up lift the weak. To see the hungry and fill them with good things. To rise up kings and bring tyrants down. To be the first one in like every leader and the last to leave not forgetting anyone." Shin stated.

Her mind calms from all distractions all around her, as she began to visualize happier days. She saw her friends as they battled the Nevermore from initiation. The times she spent with her father as a child when her mother was not on Remnant. Playing with Yang in the garden of there log cabin home. The friends she made with Sun Wu Kong and his teammates. She thought of Jaune and his team. How she met Jaune at the beginning of her first day at Beacon. She then felt that hunger, the endless depth of void. But then. She saw a flame.

"_**Make me your own from the help of another. Ask and you shall receive. Pride comes before the fall. But the one who keeps it, stands strong by reaching for others. Do not hide from this, little Rose. Seek out those who are second to none. Ask of knowledge and of strength. Seek Justice, love mercy, your soul is so humble and pure to be like those who dip to far in an imbalance of light and dark.**_"

She closed her eyes and then saw and focused on her inner light. Her eyes glowed under her eyelids as she breathed.

00000

(Play Chronicles of Narnia OST: The Wardrobe)

Ruby opened her eyes to find herself admits a beautiful green forest. Trees danced in the winds as if the cherry blossoms themselves where people like tree nymphs of fairy tales. She felt the wind that made up their body and it felt warm like that of a human hand. The mystical creatures danced around her and she rather giggled. They then lead her to a clearing near a waterfall. But the nymphs smiled and went away in a stronger breeze.

She pouted at being left alone but grew thirsty. Looking at the river coming she bent down and scooped some of it with her hands. And it tasted like no ordinary water. It felt like it even refreshed her soul. However as she kept her eyes up. She noticed the sky turning Red. She got up and looked about. But she saw nothing else. She then turned to her right to see Trees move to the sides forming a path. Which was strange because she never saw trees move the way they did. But then she heard a voice.

"_Ruby._"

It was warm. Gentle and calling to her. So she decided to walk down towards the voice. However, she didn't notice, was the 7 black cloaked figures with white masks standing behind her. And they walked behind to follow. Ruby felt there disturbing presence and put a hand near her rifle. The Specter's noticed this and pulled their own. In fact perfect copies of Crescent Rose. Except they were black rather than red. And the blade was more jagged like a saw blade, but still held its curve like a scythe.

She ran while taking out her own blade. They shrieked like banshees with a hit if a glitching computer. She then got to a clearing and turned around and impaled the first Specter through the chest. Flashbacks to her mother getting impaled on her blade ran through her head and nearly cried. She removed her blade to block the strike from another Specter. Five of the six remaining engaged her in close quarters combat. The sixth Spectator took a knee and aimed its rifle form at Ruby as she fought the other Specters.

She heard the crack of a bullet leaving its muzzle and immediately spun her scythe. The Bullet reflected off her weapon and went into the head of one of the closer Specter's. Killing it instantly. The Sniper Specter moved to another position. Setting up for another shot it did not notice a growling creature behind it. Until it was too late. Its Jaws fell on its neck twisting it to the side. Killing the Specter instantly.

The remaining 4 felt the presence of something in their area. They kept their focus on the Red hooded girl though and relentlessly continued their assault on Ruby. She dodged another thrust and spun her scythe parrying the Specter's blade out of its hands and with a side strike. The blade went through the Specter like butter. The three remaining and Ruby continued their strikes and parrying. Ruby then made a mistake. She hooked one of the three Spectators legs and pulled back hard. Tripping the Sector and she immediately followed up with a kick that caved in the figures chest. The last two then grabbed her hod and pulled her back and threw her into a tree.

Stunned for the moment the second to last Specter aimed for her head with its blade and went for a right side swing only for Ruby to dodge. The Specter's blade was caught in the tree Ruby was originally thrown at. It tried to nudge its blade out but Ruby fired a round into its chest knocking it into a tree. However she heard the sound of a weapon being cocked, and looked to her right. The last Specter was so close that the Specter's weapon was in her face. She could see the rifling of the barrel. And the Specter was going to pull the trigger. That is till the Specter felt a presence it feared again. Turning to its left a Large Lion pounces on it. It couldn't bring the barrel away from Ruby's face to shoot the lion. And the Lion tackles the Specter a good enough distance away from Ruby.

The Lion growls loudly at the Specter only for the Mask to break to show the Lion….Ruby's face. But it was stone cold and looked dead with blank eyes. It then smiled inhumanely at the Lion which only stirred its anger and bit down on the Specter's neck and twisted it causing whatever life that couldn't be seen in the Specter's eyes to die. The Specter that looked like Ruby vanished in a cloud if black smoke like the grim. The Lion turned to a scarred Ruby who was hyperventilating at what she had to do.

However the world changed, the sky's former Red turned sky blue. She was scared. Scared that she killed. Scared that she might die by this Lion. She closed her eyes waiting to be its meal. But then she felt a sandy tongue lick her face. The Lion was nudging her to get up. That's when she realized she had met this Lion before. For a weapon quest to be exact.

"Abba?" Ruby asked.

"I go by many names dear one." The Lions deep hearty voice spoke like the word Ruby used.

Yet she did not know why she called him that name.

"Abba… what were those things…" Ruby asked.

Scared when she saw the Spector's disappear like the grim. The Lion sighs as their white masks broke and revealed her own face. Some with her Silver eyes but held blank expressions. That or some sort of evil looking pattern in them as they went away.

"They are the darkest parts of your soul Ade*" the Lion replied as he began to walk.

Ruby could tell his mood was rather… .sad. She walked next to him as he continued.

"Every person, Guardian, Human, Awoken, Exo, Even Faunus. Have them inside of themselves. A darker nature to themselves, suppressed by their Soul. When the right moment comes. They will be set free to roam one's mind. Causing them nightmares, when the mind is exposed. They are the darker whispers that give you thoughts you would never want to hear."

Ruby paused for a moment before looking at the Lion.

"So… when I killed mom I-I-" she stammered off not wanting to finish the answer.

"I'm afraid so Ade. But that is why your light MUST shine brighter than the Darkness trying to control you. To be the Rock that people lean on for comfort and understanding. To be like Yang when Summer Rose was gone."

Ruby remembered how Yang basically became her surrogate mother when her Father shut down. Often walking past her and Yang when he wanted to be alone to grieve. But she also remembers how Yang basically gave up her own childhood to help Ruby with help from Qrow. She then looked at her hands. She feels the call to the Void light Shin was giving her.

"But… how?" Ruby asked.

The Lion smiled a great and if not giggled a little. And he placed his paw on her chest.

"By being the Huntress. You want to aspire to be. Someone with a strong sense of Justice. But also of kindness to the least of these. Someone who loves life like it's precious." The Lion replied.

Ruby felt a warmth in her chest grow as she felt her hands vibrate. The warmth went all over her body as she knew why she wanted to be a Huntress. One just like her mother. Kind. Caring. And helpful to the least fortunate. She smiled and held the Lion's paw. But she felt sadness in her heart.

"Something is wrong, isn't it?"

A tear of pure sorrow fell from the Lion's face.

"Your mother is growing ever closer to the dark, Ade. The whispers that try to haunt you, are already at war for her soul. She has a throne that needs to be removed from her side, a thorn brought by demons of night. But only you can do this." The Lion replied.

"Couldn't you… couldn't you help my mother?" Ruby asked with a pleading heart.

The Lion looked at Ruby in the eyes.

"I already am."

Ruby used her finger to try drying her tears. She then hugs the Lion as she started to cry. Thinking of her mother.

"Will I ever see you again?" Ruby asked.

"_In your world, I go by another name. It's best that you know me by it._" He replied as he hugged Ruby back.

He then broke the Hug and kissed her cheek before he went to the pocket on Rubys skirt that held the Rock. And with his breath. It caused the rock Xur gave Ruby to vibrate, and glow a clear sky blue and then return to normal. He then smiled as he walked away. And Ruby knew her calling.

"Thank you Abba." Ruby said with a tear in her eye.

00000

Her eyes opened and she watched her hand emit a purple light. A void bow of elegant design formed her hands. Which then turned into a ball of void light into her hand as she brought it down. She stared at it for what seemed like forever as her hand fell before her eyes. She now felt full. And her tired weariness was gone. As the flame disappeared from her hands. A round object was in her hands.

"What's this?" Ruby stated

Then when the beeping started Shins eyes widened as he quickly grabbed the object and tossed it as far as he could. Then a flaming eruption of void light exploded on the scene. He then turned to Ruby.

00000

Ruby and Shin went to a grenade range in the School as Ruby practice throwing her void wall grenades at steel targets, being handed them by Shin who wanted her to get familiar with the many grenades guardians tend to have. Though one thing Shin did wanted to know was why Ruby chose a Sniper rifle as her weapons firearm mode.

"Hey Rubes. Why did you choose a sniper rifle as your firearm mode for Crescent Rose? Why not a semi-auto or Assault rifle? You could carry more ammo and the benefits pay off more than a 50. Cal BMG or 20mm 700 grain projectile for an Anti Material rifle." Shin asked

Ruby threw another void wall Grenade letting it explode amongst its targets before turning to Shin.

"Well… mostly mom and Yang, and the model base I use was rather cool when I was little." Ruby replied.

"Really? You thought a M82A1 Barrett Anti-Mat rifle was a good base as a, what, 5 year old kid?" Shin laughed

"It really was….." Ruby replied. Thinking back to the day she went to the range with Qrow instead of her mother, she decided to talk with Shin over it.

00000

(Play Red Not alone)

8 years ago

A seven year old Ruby marveled at the large selection of Weapons the Signal Armory had as just base Gun frames to practice firing. Qrow stood behind her as she tried to see which one would think would go great for her. Though when she saw the sniper rifles and their caliber description said, she thought they were underpowered due to the small nature of the .308 rifle and the 44 Magnum Hand cannon rounds to be lacking despite them being able to take down an elephant from a good distance. Then just like at the gun show from two years prior, she saw a behemoth of a rifle. Its long barrel stuck out like a sore thumb. As well as the rather large muzzle break.

What definitely caught her eye was the description of the rounds it fired.

"M107 Browning Machine Gun with a muzzle velocity 2,799 ft per second, effective range 1500-2000 meters, Standard Magazine capacity 5rounds, weight 30lb unloaded 32lb loaded."

Her eyes lit up with joy. These specs were just the base model of the gun not counting ACTUAL dust enhanced rounds! They even have the kind of lightning dust mom used to use!

"_Don't worry, my little flower. I'll come back to help you pick…"_

"Something the matter kiddo?" Qrow asked seeing his niece stiffen a little.

"I wish mommy was here..." she says barely above a whisper tears welling in her eyes

Qrow didn't know what to do. He barely was in the girl's life as it is because of his semblance. He had nearly put his lips to his flask, but stopped. Sighing, he immediately puts it away. And as the literally girl slowly started to cry. Qrow bent got onto one knee and turned Ruby around. Her tears had already started to run like rivers. He looked into her eyes with his own. Filled with a confidence that he never had felt before welded in his chest like no other.

"I know Ruby. Your mother was someone I deeply cared about. She was like the sister I never had. When my own Father never believed in me and Forsaken me for my life's choices. But your mother. She saw potential in me. More so than my own father. And I know she misses you too." Qrow said to her to ease her tears.

The small girl rubbed her tears away and smiled if not a little bit.

"Do you….do you think we'll ever see her again?" Ruby asked

"I'm sure. But keep her in here." Qrow stated as he placed a finger on her chest where her heart would be. "And her memories in here. So that you won't ever forget her. And I'm sure one day, we will see her again. Some day."

Ruby rubbed her face again to keep the tears from coming back and smiled brightly at Qrow.

"Ok Uncle Qrow." She replied.

Qrow smiled as he gave her a hug and Ruby returned it as he gave her a pat on the back of her head. Ruby felt the warm embrace and felt what she was missing. Love.

Then once the embrace was broken Ruby looked at the Anti material rifle again and Qrow saw her eyes go to it. Still with a smile he pointed at it.

"You wanna try shooting that?" He asked

"Yes please!" Ruby replied with excitement, her mind instantly shoving off whatever dark thoughts about why her mom left so suddenly, as her inner gun freak kicked in high gear.

Her eyes lighting up with childlike wonder and innocence. Qrow nodded and called for the Range master to unlock the Rifle and some ammo for Ruby to fire the weapon. He then got behind Ruby at the firing line to show her how to operate it. And then she fired the first round from the first gun she ever had in her life. Her smile and grown the minute she pulled the trigger and let loose a 12.77×99 mm round into a man sized targeted 3000 meters away.

Qrow saw the happiness in Ruby's face and her body language. He never wanted this smile and innocence to leave her. He'd seen enough dead as his time as a Huntsman. He hoped, no, prayed even, that Ruby would never have to do what he does.

"Hey Uncle Qrow. What did mom want to do with her sword?" Ruby asked after getting off the stand where the rifle was set u

"She wanted to turn her sword into a Designated Marksmanship rifle. Ether that .308 EBR over there or that Dragunov Sniper rifle. Why?" Qrow asked

"I want that Rifle as my base and a broadsword!" Ruby replied.

"That's… not good for the frame of a blade Ruby. How about a scythe?" Qrow said

Ruby tilted her head in confusion. "Why a scythe?"

"Balance for both the blade and sniper. Plus," Qrow started off with a smile, as he pulled out Harbinger, showing off a few of his moves from a respectable, safe distance for a change. His movements were a blur, as he lashed out at multiple different angles of nothing until slamming onto the ground and breaking the floor beneath him. When he finished, he looked to Ruby.

Ruby was in such complete utter awe, that the only thing she was capable of saying at that point was. "SOLD! So very sold!"

00000

Ruby smiled at the small Memory. Shin thought under his helmet mostly of what she was thinking.

"Food for thought?"

Ruby only smiled with a teasing grin mostly to get back at him for just forcing her through such vigorous training a long time ago.

"Nope. Trade secret."

"Really?"

"Ye-p!"

"Huh. Women." Shin grunted in annoyance, as he drank another glass.

Ruby's Scroll rings and she pulls it out. Smiling she took off with her semblance activating to the Beacon Ship Hanger.

"Well then. Looks like only I get a bowl of ramen." Shin stated smug grin without looking at Ruby, walking to a ramen stand nonchalantly without looking back. He already knew Ruby was making a face at him anyways.

00000

**Earlier **

Frederick saw the Redjack with landing lights guide him in as the hangers Arms took hold of his ship. He powered down the engines and got out of the pilots seat and went to where Summer was sleeping. With a Sigh he tried shaking her awake. At first she yawned before turning on her sleeping area away from him.

He then pulled out a hand gun and fired three blanks immediately waking her Up in a fright.

"Really Freddie?" Summer stated

"I'm heading home. Go ahead and get whatever materials from the vault that you may want to have and I'll be back. In a bit." Frederick told her

"Alright, meet you there! I miss Violet's cooking!" Summer replied with drool hanging from her lips at the mere mention of her eating someone else's cooking.

This caused him to sweat a bit.

"I know my wife is a good cook Summer… but you're not coming with me. You'd eat us out of house and district." Frederick replied

He then walked off his ship, Summer immediately ran to her vault to get some materials as she turned on the comms. "Freddie, Freddie, you underestimate me!" Summer said with a sly grin. "I'd eat out the whole city with a _beaming _smile on my face!"

00000

**Housing District 117**

Frederick breathes hard after Running from the Tower to the housing district. Looking at the two story townhome. He sighs in content while walking up the walkway and pulling out his keys. He unlocked the door only to be horrified by the state of the dining room table. Pots of food had been emptied and quite literally licked clean. Plates as well but bones where left of chicken. All in front of Summer who was using a toothpick on her teeth.

"What the…." Frederick said in confusion. "How!? How did you get here! How did all this food get made so fast!?"

"Oh it was all left overs from Warriors night last night dear." Said a sweet voice from behind him.

Frederick Turned around to see a Awoken women with bright Violet purple hair and blue glowing eyes. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail as she dusted her hands.

"Oh… well Violet.I'm home! Not for long though due to issues on Remnant. Do you know where I keep my Portable smithing equipment?" Frederick asked the women.

She only smirked.

_Oh dear lord. _Frederick thought in dismay, as he realized something.

"Oh has the might Titan finally forgotten where he put it last in the room?" She replied with a bit of sas.

"Are you trying to use reverse psychology on me?" Frederick replied as he took off his helmet and gave her a hug. Or at least tried to.

"Nah ah ah sweetheart. Not until you shower. You stink like the deviled eggs Summer just ate." Violets smile grew even bigger as the two heard a loud rumble.

Summer's eyes widened upon realizing what she ate, and she looked to her side as if asking for someone.

"No Summer. I'm not healing your bubble guts. You need to learn to stop eating your poor friend out of house and home!" Drei said as he materialized next to her.

"Drei if you don't-" The rumbling became louder than before, as Summer keeled over. "Oh Traveler! Violet I swear I will get back at you for this!" Summer vowed as she began her crawl to the restroom.

"And if you do I won't give you any more leftovers to go. I know how much you like my cooking so… make of that what you will." Violet replied ever so confidently at the hero of the Last City.

Summer crept away to use the bathroom conveniently next to the first floor bedroom while trying to not make it apparent what she was doing to prevent an accident. Frederick just laughed so hard he thought he was gonna die.

"Ok dear, I get it. I get it." Frederick replied while grabbing his helmet and going to the upstairs bathroom.

"Urgh, those two. They are practically inseparable children." The Awoken women only giggled as she started washing up the used dishes.

Drei and Naomi floated over to the living room to have a rather quiet conversation on a private communication channel, one only ghosts get to link to.

"So… sorry about my Guardian having… well… you know." Drei started.

"Its ok Drei. We all know how much Summer likes the food Violet makes. Hell its much better then those stupid ration bars some Guardians eat just to not ever use them again because the taste was like that of tooth paste." Naomi replied with her red and black shell twirling.

"And… I'm sorry about the last conversation we had… you know… about fixing Summer fully…" Drei awkwardly apologized as he couldn't look her in the eye. "I get where you're coming from being that Frederick is not an ordinary Guardian. It's just that there are rules for a reason." Drei said as he bobbed his body at her as if he was nodding.

"Apology accepted Drei." Naomi replied cheerfully. "And I get that I might've been a little too aggressive in it. But my point still stands on it through. Summer deserves more than just blind servitude. What would make that so different then being a slave?"

"Why don't you ask your Guardian that. Is his not blind servitude as well?" Drei replied calmly. "How is the Traveler and who Frederick believes in any different?"

"Because we both know and believe. Much like with you. But when we look at these rules they make no sense other than to restrict Guardians from living a full life. Maybe with a family of their own because they just want that chance. Frederick couldn't watch his boys grow up to be the men they were. So that's why he wants to be here now. Especially with his once widowed wife. Just give Summer the chance. Maybe she'll be different if you'd not follow the more obvious restrictions that prevent Guardians from a greater degree of love they could have."

Drei was silent as he turned to the bathroom Summer was in.

"I'll...give it some-" Drei was cut short as a massive explosion was heard throughout the house, setting everyone on edge for a second until they realized **what **kind of explosion that was. "Oh for the love of the Traveler- SUMMER! Why couldn't you tell it was deviled eggs?! The stench is already nearing the strength of the cow crud in the City's farms!"

"I DON'T KNOW, THEY TASTED SO GOOD!" Summer shouted as another rumbling bubbly guts was heard. Everyone in the house laughed as another explosion rang out. "THIS IS YOUR FAULT TOO Y'KNOW!"

"Children. I'm surrounded by children." Drei stated.

Frederick got out of his shower. His skin and hair looked cleansed and devoid of sweat and dirt. He then snuck up on Violet who was still washing dishes while humming a tune. Frederick then kissed her head and placed a hand on her stomach and felt it being firm.

"Ohhhhh. Been doing core workouts I see?" Frederick asked.

"Oh dear you flatter me." Violet replied with a cute tilt to her head.

"Which reminds me. You texted me on the day that you had a surprise for me. What was it?" Frederick asked.

"I'll tell you when you get back from helping Summer out on Remnant. And hay can you give Daisy a hug for me? I miss her." Violet replied.

"Sure thing dear." Frederick said.

She then turned around and they both kissed, staying like that for a while… until the two caught the scent in the air. They immediately separated to pinch their noses, looking at Summer who just got out of the restroom whilst still holding her own stomach in pain. Looked at the two lovers and smirked to herself, not wanting to waste the opportunity.

"Hey Violet. Want to know why I call you Evergarden?" Summer started

"Oh for fiddlesticks sakes." The titan and awoken said in unison, knowing fully what's to come.

"Because you keep popping seeds! Get it, get it?" Summer started trying to laugh. Only to find no one was laughing with her but rather only four faces had looks of annoyance.

"No more leftovers for you. Now clean up the latter half of your dishes." Violet stated.

"Oh come on." Summer replied.

"Do it or no more meals for a month."

And Summer immediately went to get the last of the dishes done. For no guardian ever turns down the chance to eat more food. Not ever in their lives.

"Frederick. You married a very scary woman." Summer said.

In response, Violet somehow managed to obtain a whip, and cracked it in the air, startling Summer for a moment and nearly making her drop a dish. "And you're cleaning the bathroom up too for that comment."

Drei only sighs while Frederick and Naomi laughed.

00000

Ruby couldn't withhold her excitement. She was going to have her mother for at least a week. Which was fine to her all things considered. Her father Tai and her Uncle Qrow were notified of her return by Ruby as well as her team. Much to Weiss' and Blake's annoyance as to how that child in an adult body even functions. But they were nonetheless happy to see that their Teammate and Leader was happy again, mainly because of the restless nights in which Ruby was waking up from her mother dying by her hands in her dream, or the mood swings that no doubt also stemmed from her killing mom Which honestly worried them more so than their studies… because they also couldn't study without sleep.

Tai and Qrow came in in crutches and a wheelchair, the former be Tai and Qrow the latter due to their injuries with SIVA from their two missions combined. Qrow didn't even have a flask on him due to liver damage from SIVA, something of which the warlocks were still working on.

Yang stood by Ruby. She was rather happy to see her sister getting better mentally. She knows how deep that night had scared her mind. But luckily she's seeing progress in her mental health, and isn't having signs of panic attacks or anything else that could indicate she was disturbed, but knows that the nightmares are on and off. They then heard the engines of a ship coming down.

Tai and Qrow smiled which confused the girls but decided to brush it off as maybe Summer got a new ship or something with a lot more guns on them. Which wouldn't surprise Team Rwby in the slightest being that Ruby and Summer would basically be sisters when it comes to firearms. As the ship landed the blood tray came forward revealing Summer and an odd man they never saw before. But knew he was of the Titan class. With tears in her eyes Ruby lurched forward activating her speed semblance giving Summer a welcome home hug that knocked the wind out of her.

Summer laughs a little with not a hint of pain as the Titan came down Tai and Qrow looked at each other and then smiled as they saw the mother and daughter reunited again.

"Welcome home mom!" Ruby stated with tears of joy.

"Thanks Ruby." Summer replied with a smile lightly stroking her daughters hair.

00000

Omake

**How To Tell If A Character Is Plotting To Kill You **

**Pt i**

Diluation sighs in content after making another chapter with input, and a little help from everyone this time. After responding to the reviews, he gets on Discord, the place he and the team tended to chat at since they all lived whole states away from one another. He types.

_Diluation:" everyone Please check out the chapter for bits you'd like to add or edit, and will be posting it in a couple hours."_

Luckily, or strangely enough, they were all online quickly. Even Dustinz, who was more dormant than the general chat section they had. After a moment passes by, Animeak116 types.

Diluation didn't really care at the moment, as he went about the rest of the night. He would respond to his team in due time, just wanting to give them a few minutes to start really chattering among themselves. He took to the laundry room of his house, a place with three things he wanted at that very moment:A minifridge, a grey cat that likes to hang around there, and the soft drinks within the minifridge.

There was no wifi in that part of the house, which means no music or keeping tabs on the team, but surely they won't quarrel over plot points or have something bad happen to them, right?

He ignored his family and idly went into the laundry room. Nobody went to stop and ask, mainly busy with their own things online as they typed away at the keyboards. So without any resistance, he arrived to where he wanted to be at that very moment, taking out a drink and idly looking out the front porch from a small window, not actually paying attention. He made some kissing noises. "Safee!"

A grey tuxedo cat came out behind some cookie jars perched above him, meowing a 'hello' at him. She got down without knocking them over, and made her way to him, only to look at him inquisitively. He grinned.

"So that's where you've been, huh?" He ruffled her head a bit, before just petting her. The cat put one ear back and gave a stink eye at him. "You know you shouldn't be up at mom's precious cookie jars. She'd get upset if you knocked her stuff over."

The cat meowed once again, a very uncaring meow that just spelled out, 'I do what I want, when I want, because I'm cute.' as she began purring in content at the attention. Diluation simply rolled his eyes, and just kept petting her absentmindedly. It was then the doorbell rang, catching both of their attention instantly. He looked out to the driveway to see no car parked, as he heard his mom come to answer the door from the upstairs, having called out to whoever was below. His curiosity piqued, he looked to the doorway, and saw a Blake cosplayer. He paused for a moment.

"Ehhh, probably just another crazy. We live close to the bad side after all." He shrugged to himself. He thought it amusing enough to talk about though, as he went out of the laundry room, quickly regaining access to the server.

_Animeak116:"Yo guys, I just had Weiss show up here."_

_Aquilos:"Oh really? There's a Yang at my door."_

_Dustinz:"There's a girl at my house that looks like Ruby…"_

To say Diluation's eyebrows raised at that moment was an understatement, as everyone was typing to each other's words at that very moment. They went off his head, clipping through reality and into the fabric of the space-time continuum, through the lands of all known deities in the world, before coming back down to where they should be at planet Earth.

_Diluation:"You guys serious? Like, actually serious? Because I've got Blake at my door. Also, might wanna hide your stuff guys, don't wanna come across as weebs."_

_Animeak:"Not shitting you, Dilu. And you know I don't have to worry about that."_

_Aquilos:"I'd wanna try and make a meta comment here, but… the Yang at my door is banging on it."_

_Dustinz:"I can't tell if that scythe is real or not. Confirm guys?"_

Diluation in particular paused at the image that then loaded onto the screen, as did everyone else. Suddenly, he had a sinking feeling. _Are we being targeted by crazies who found our homes somehow?! But why would… oh wait. They must be mad at us not being at Forsaken yet!_

Diluation weighed his options. On one hand, going on the run to avoid lunatics that are after his butt wasn't exactly the best option available. On the other, if he could overwhelm the one at his front door, he could escape with his mom and family having guaranteed safety with him in the same boat, but at the cost of his writers.

_...Fuck it. I'm not just gonna take the easy route. I'm playing Hercules here._

_Diluation:"I get this is all weird everyone, but if they're angry at us about the plot, DIRECT THEM TO ME ASAP. Tell them I'm making smut or something!"_

He then gave them his(now former) address, before looking around for things he could use. Before he could get the chance to grab anything, his little brother, Aidan, took his hand with a smirk. "Hey bro… you finally got that cat girl you wanted."

"One. Shut the fuck up you little shit." Diluation interrupted, the panic in his voice evident. "Two. Not funny. Not funny at all right now."

"But it's a cat girl~!" Aidan said, as he grinned ear to ear at him. "And she shares your name!"

"Aidan, I swear to god, I will hit you with one of these pans if you don't-" Before Diluation could finish the sentence, he felt his hand get wrapped around by a ribbon and he paled, as Aidan became too shocked to react. Slowly, he turned to the cosplayer with a strained smile.

Blake was not happy for a multitude of reasons, furious actually, especially now. For one, the boy in front of her was the reason she hadn't been to the Last City for a whole year now. The boy in front of her was also one of the writers of the fanfic that was stuck in volume, what 3? For whole months now! And as it turns out to be, the boy, in her eyes, is also a massive douche, demeaning his little brother and threatening to harm him! She may have been an only child, but she knew that real brothers and sisters don't treat each other in such a manner!

Seeing as there was no way to reason with the crazy maniac who barged into his home, somehow managing to single him out already, Blake decided that he had no other options. He quickly debated his last words. It's not the best, but it was the best any realistic person could come up with at that moment. "Hey little Blakey, what is with all the fight? Little bitty kitty wanna bite bite-"

"Shut it." She hissed, as she pulled him out of the house with her ribbon, causing him to yelp as she disappeared with him into the night swiftly, Diluation just accepting his inevitable fate and not even making a sound as he flew through the air, being tossed around like garbage in the wind. He wondered if Ptabs had to deal with anything like this, or if this was the first time it had ever happened before. He pondered if Ptabs was castrated by a 'Lux' for having her teach Summer sex. After skipping through several neighborhoods and counties within an hour, making it impossible for the police to even search for him, they came to a stop in an alleyway.

Blake threw Diluation into the wall, and he simply grunted in pain, managing to prevent his head from smashing into it. She drew Gambol Shroud, and held it at his neck while he held an impressed look, surprised how they went so far. "We want our own chapters. Now."

"Come now," Diluation tried to smooth talk Blake out of harming him, pushing the weapon away. "You wouldn't harm a fellow like you, wouldn't you?"

She raised an eyebrow at that for a moment, before putting the blade back. "You heard what I said."

He in turn, sighed as he instead clutched his bruised body. "C'mon book girl. You don't see Ninjas Of Love skipping arcs and characters, do you? The blonde ninja gets to have his own time as he follows the black ninja, but the story is all about the black ninja at first."

She blushed at how Diluation somehow knew the plot of the story. "H-how did you know that?!"

"Well actually I was citing- nevermind, but now you get my gist here." Blake said to the superhuman looney before him. _Also surprised that it even worked…_

Blake looked at the boy with suspicion. "But that still doesn't explain our lack of chapter time for the most part."

"Look, first things first, put that thing away. If I'm not around or willing, you can't get the chapters you want regardless." Diluation said, as he put Gambol Shroud to the side. "Second, I get dragging me away for a little one on one after that, but can you not hang over me like that? It's really- um, awkward having a girl on top." He then acted nervous, letting his acting skills come into play.

Blake blushed heavily as she scrambled off, sputtering as Diluation held a small grin and a light blush. "Y-you're the one who made it lewd!" She reflects it back at him. "Damn degenerate!"

"Tell me something I haven't heard yet, why don'tcha…" Diluation muttered to himself, before continuing. "And third…" He then scratches behind her ears, causing Blake to purr at inhuman levels for a moment before she kicked him in the crotch. He managed to pull one as she did so, causing Blake to hiss in pain as he flew back again.

"Oookay, those are real and you aren't just some crazed, steroid using lunatic who came after me…" Diluation held his crotch in immeasurably agony, as he went fetal on the floor. "Heels. Fucking. Suck."

"W-why would I be a lunatic?" She almost shouted in indignance at being treated in such a manner, as she held her ears back. "You should know it is me! Who else goes around dressed as me?!"

"Clearly you underestimate humanity here on planet Earth, because people that obviously don't have your looks dress up as you." Diluation said, as he forced himself back up, looking straight at her increasingly red face that was now a tomato. "Not that I find anything wrong with that, everyone's a little weird sometimes, including me who mains a warlock that wears the exotic nipple chains chestpiece…"

He then cleared his throat, getting back on track. "Fourth, look, I don't know what in god's name are you doing here, but go back to the background from whence you came."

Blake reached for her Gambol Shroud, fumbling to grab it as she couldn't think straight at the thought of guys dressing up as her while she stood up. "I-I know I can't kill you, but I can-!"

"Torture me, cut it off, blah blah blah… just let me finish idiot." Diluation interrupted her as if she was little more than a child.

"The story is focused on the Roses… Blake." He awkwardly lets out, not sure what else to call her. "Summer Rose has to be done with first before you guys get a turn, and you won't have much longer until you get your turn. That's it, end of discussion, now go prevent your teammates from accidentally traumatizing or killing the other writers with a pre-assumption of aura. You already bruised me in several areas dragging me here."

She crossed her arms.

"I'm the one mainly leading this arc, with the others just occasionally pitching in when I can't, as I have school still." Diluation then pointed at her. "Also you prevented me from cracking cold ones on a Saturday night where I have no schoolwork, so you best get going before I give you the Yang treatment. And I am most certainly capable of giving you it."

"Well, since you say that…" Without another word, Blake left, though not entirely sure what he meant by the 'Yang Treatment'.

Diluation sighed as he got onto his phone, not bothering to check the server yet as he called for help, and to confirm that he was still alive and okay. Family came first after all. Even if they tended to be busy or annoying him endlessly with tasteless jokes at his expense.

He wondered if Animeak just shot the girl outright though. Probably would've happened in all honesty.

00000

In a recently bought home of a military family, a desert camouflage Animeak116 with a Marine Corp 8-point cover on his head looked out the door with a fully automatic shotgun pointed directly at Weiss. "Ok, who are you, and what you want? Are you here for my blood or something? Trying to hold me hostage so they write how you want it?"

The girl in white who looked like she was 18 at most in a disney costume reject who just looked on in rather mortified confusion, but still managed to reply in a calm, orderly manner. At least, the best she could manage at that statement. "I'm… what!? NO! I only want to talk!"

"Son, what's going on down there?"

"Nothing dad! Just keep them up there!" Animeak said, as he continued aiming the gun at her. "Bad idea visiting me at my own house by the way. In this state, self-defense is allowed."

"I'm serious, I'm only here to talk." Weiss replied. "My name is Weiss Schnee. I just want to talk about- is that a military uniform?"

"Yeah? Look kid, I just got back from a month of being in Camp Wilson, 29 palms in the middle of but fuck no where desert with only a fucking old ass Russian T55 tank that gets any signal, because big suprise, T mobile cell towers dont work put there!" He replied rather tired from his drill duty, and only wants a shower and sleep.

"Look, I promise I won't do anything, and that I'm not this...what did you say yes? Whatever I'm the real Weiss Schnee." Weiss said assuredly. "Could you please put the shotgun away?"

"Yeah, and I'm mother fucking general "Mad Dog" Mattis of the goddamn marines. Why the hell should I listen to you ya psychopath?" Anime guy replied, as he hit her with the butt of the shotgun to mainly just push her back.

The Arma Giga peered over from on top of the house, casting a shadow over the two. It wasn't looking happy about his summoner being threatened. Animeak116 just looked up, squinting his eyes at the Giga.

"Oh for- shoo you!" Weiss put her rapier in the ground, trying to de-summon the Giga. "You're making an already complicated situation worse!"

"Ok, I believe you." He said, as he simply went back into the house. "Go in and grab a cold one or something Weiss."

Weiss looked at him for a moment. "And the fact that my summon appeared like that didn't-"

"Look Ice Princess, I'm tired. I've been surviving off of 2-4 hours of sleep for the past month to cook for literally THOUSANDS OF MARINES. Had a 6 hour drive back here. I honestly am out of fucks to give, especially to those pertaining to giant knight mechas who could stomp me into a pulp. Now, you're gonna say your peace, or are you going to keep bothering me?"

00000

(**A/N: Abba:** _**Father in Hebrew, **_**Ade: **_**Daughter in Mando'a**_)

**The Anime guy: Hey guys a new chapter so soon actually this was made by me with everyone else editing, but we decided to save this for another time. Anything else you guys want to say? **

**The Anime guy: Well onto the reviews!**

**Fialan21: Is that Cayde continuing to be a bad influence? **

**The Anime guy: yep pretty much **

**Neo-Devil: Summer's reaction to Forsaken, wonder if she'll be able to handle it. I mean Uldren obviously dies horribly for it. But I don't think Guardian Uldren is going to deserve her wrath though. **

**The Anime guy: I'm gonna be completely honest with you guys. I think while Uldren was doing his own thing, he was being tricked into doing it by Riven's Siren. His love and devotion to his sister is quite lovely, but also is a double edged sword for his loyalties and if someone like riven managed to play him like a fiddle. Then who knows who else she could try to tempt.**

**The Three Guardians in the review's: This was Fun/lovely/loved so much**

**The Anime guy: We try to have good quality chapters as much as possible and hope to keep it up. Thanks so much for your support guys. These reviews have been helping me especially be motivated to stay a part of this for so long. I've had a lot of ups and downs this past year, some with RWBY, some outside of it.**

**Diluation:I strongly feel like writing this per week in order to speed this up, but it can't fit my college schedule, or my updates on other fics besides this. **


	23. In Search Of Your Grave

Ruby and Summer Got off Fredericks ship much to them getting embarrassed from Ruby's outburst but no one actually minded. Ruby then looked at the Titan.

"Who's he?" Ruby asked

"A friend." Summer said as she nodded at Frederick. She then watched another ship come down into the hangar, and smiled upon quickly deducing who could be in there. "And that over there…"

A medical team on stand by with multiple stretchers came to the ship's blood tray. It was the same model of Frederick's. Three people carrying two others came out quickly, yet carefully carrying people out, a titan, warlock and hunter respectively. A rather old man with a patch on his left side was laid on there. The other was a sickly looking woman. As well as many barely dressed women. The three people slowly got them on the stretchers and the doctors swiftly carried all the women and the two critically injured to the infirmary. Frederick, Team RWBY, and Summer recognized the armor of the Hunter among the three. Summer and the other walked over and The Hunter saw her and the others walking over.

"Heya Summer." She then took off her helmet, revealing it was Daisy the whole time. She initially seemed like she just wanted to talk, but then noticed the Titan among the ladies and two still recovering Huntsmen. Her face brightened up in a smile and she essentially tackled him.

Frederick just hugged back. "Hey Kiddo. Your Grandmother says hi." He replied.

"Well I better tell her sorry… Cayde's has been keeping me busy." Daisy replied.

"I take it that your last mission was a success?" Summer stated more than asked.

This seemed only to dampen her mood. Daisy sat down on the ramp that her two teammates were on. "It's not really the family friendly type. Drugs and stuff, usual narcotics. Got into a bit of a jam even with the two Vanguard Agents at my side."

Everyone listening in flinched, already figuring out precisely what in particular had gone down, but not the when or where. Not that those were necessary at that moment. "People still died?"

Daisy nodded. "Still died. But we did our best, and that's what counts." Daisy then smiled, as she decided to change the subject. "So, where are you guys going? I thought you and grandpa wouldn't have been back until the war was over?"

"We're on break to find my old sword, while Pyrrha is out being supervised by a friend in the Plaguelands." Summer immediately replied back, as she got to walking to Cayde's office. "They said they could handle the rest of the situation there for until they found the base. Kind of doubtful about them being able to handle Kovik, but knowing him he'd probably have some sort of ingenious plan set up."

00000

Pyrrha and Barloc were practically annihilating the splicer forces with the small group of uninfected fallen they had behind them. Barloc was firing upon the hordes of splicers with deadly accuracy, while Pyrrha misplaced their guns, or in other cases, their mechanical arms and cybernetic enhancement, small things that meant a lot to them. Emptying out the ketch was practically a breeze, and with Pyrrha having a nifty supply of motes handed to them by a few guardians that were in the area, the Splicers were looking to have no chance, as they could only occasionally get a shot out, before finding parts of them being ripped off.

Yet despite this, Barloc still looked tense. And while the uninfected fallen were wiping out the Splicers with ease, Pyrrha only took a single look at Barloc, before coming to the same conclusion as well. "There's gonna be a big guy to shoot, isn't there?"

"You learn quickly." Barloc commented, before shoving her out of the way of a sniper shot from a splicer vandal. "But not quick enough to realize that combat comes first."

One of the vandals that was nearby shot the offender in the head as Pyrrha got back up, resuming her work with her semblance. The vandal looked to Barloc. "Kell be happy, yes? Yun Eliksni shes... ha sloat."

"Yus Rahndel?" Barloc said back in response. "Ge ki, Rahndel nas dra Eliksni. Dras Eliksni ge."

The vandal was impressed, while Pyrrha was confused. "Uhhh, what are you two talking about?"

"You strong in Eliksni… impressive."

A roar from within the confines of the ketch resounded throughout the place. Barloc only paused for a moment, before reloading his weapon, and getting on top of a crate. "Ha ra lun! Shar! Shan!"

The small group of fallen he had behind him let out a battle cry, as the group pressed deeper within, aided by the powerful onslaught that was Pyrrha's semblance, and Barloc's leadership.

The original House of Devils would find their vengeance on this day. Even if a few of them may die in the process.

00000

"Well, hopefully they don't overdo things and just only wait to drop a giant boulder on Kovik." Daisy couldn't help but note. "The Fallen are crafty after all. They probably have a bug watching them while they mess around elsewhere."

Summer couldn't help but laugh. "I think that might be what's already going on with Barloc at the moment."

"Barloc?" Ruby couldn't help but raise a brow at that as she cut in. "You mean the guy that's making it mandatory for these metal detecting bugs to be placed all around the computers?"

All at once, the conversation came to a abrupt halt, as the two guardians stood stock still, quickly coming to the realization that something was very wrong.

"Yeah the things are annoying too." Daisy said as she pulled out one of the metal detecting bugs. "The alarm sounds like chalk on a nailboard. I had to remove a lot of knives just to- why are we stopping?"

Like a blur of motion, Summer pulled out Thorn and shot the bug, causing Ruby and Daisy to jump, while Frederick practically bolted over to Daisy, double-checking her for any extra bugs. He quickly pulled some out of his stunned granddaughter's pockets and crushed them, while Summer went over to Ruby and did the same, but saved a few of them for herself and had Drei put them in a safe container.

"M-mom?!"

"Grandpa, Summer, what the hell!?"

"Do you know where all of those bugs are?" Frederick hurriedly asked, as he had Naomi transmat Twilight Garrison onto his body.

"Why are you- oh." Daisy said in realization, as the dots finally connected in her head. Ruby's eyes widened too in fear.

"Daisy, you're with me, Summer-" Frederick turned around just in time to catch a massive trail of white petals that danced about in the air.

"...I-I'll get Glynda!" Ruby hurriedly said, before she too disappeared in a flurry of red petals.

00000

Cayde sat in his office bored as hell as he went through the paperwork Barloc decided to leave him. His brow creased into frustration as he read through each document.

"Why couldn't Ikora or Zavala give me more secretaries? It'd make my time here so much easier." Unbeknownst to him, Barloc was also mocking his words while also copying his arm movements, directly behind him.

He sighed in mental exhaustion after having dealt with what seemed like dozens upon dozens of mountains of paperwork. He half considered breaking out an ahamkara bone and using it to wish the work away, but he knew the only thing that he'd get out of that would be not only two angry warlocks, but the damn dragon purposely screwing something up just to make everything even worse. Not to mention he didn't know who's bone he had, and he certainly didn't want to use Eao.

They had been the worst out of all the Ahamkara, having scattered their many scales throughout the solar system for unknowing guardians to collect, and even the knowing the begrudgingly take. Their knuckle bones were perhaps the worst of the bunch, as they'd always be found in the beginning of every active raid entrance thus far, causing guardians probe the entrance to the raid until they've collected a few of his Knuckles, and thus allowing those inside of the raid to prepare accordingly. He considered himself lucky that Summer didn't care for the knuckles when she went to fight Oryx. If the Taken King had prepared fast enough, he would've sabotaged certain sections to the point where it'd be nearly impossible to continue on.

And speaking of raids…

He had to wonder what the heck the level of activity Salem's place would be, whenever he found it that is. That alone would prove to be a difficult one from Summer's reports, and may require the restrictions of 6-man fireteams to be lifted once more in order to ensure nobody died in that fight. It'd probably be more annoying than Barloc himself when he-

He felt the back of his metal head cave in, the last thing he felt before literally dying. About a few moments later, Sundance resurrected him, and he turned to look at the assailant, rubbing the back of his head. "OW! What the heck-"

"You were thinking out loud again." Barloc pointed out with his oil covered hand, as he narrowed his eyes. Oddly enough, the hand was slightly red, but Cayde had chalked it up to a few bones or so being broken and the skin torn. "And in case you forgot our deal, you specifically requested that I do the task you've given me in favor of taking the workload. That means you should've expected this."

"Wait a minute, aren't you on a mission back in the Sol system?" Cayde was quick to point out. "Why the heck are you here?"

"As she herself would say it, circumstances have forced me to take a…" He sighs in annoyance of what he's been forced to say due to a bet he made with the guardian herself. "Summer break. So I am stuck here until Summer is finished doing some inspections here, and looking for a couple mementos, both on Earth and Remnant."

"So does that mean that Pyrrha is in Sol Alone?" Cayde asked hesitantly unlike many times before. "If so, you're the worst blue falcon ever."

"Pyrrha has the ability to fully manipulate metal, Cayde." Barloc said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I'm sure she'll be fine. And this is more for everyone's benefit than mine, if you may recall."

But Cayde wasn't fine. In fact, several alarm bells were already beginning to sound from his dented head. Narrowing his eyes a bit, he looked away in thought for a few moments as he considered a few things to ask Barloc.

Barloc however, didn't seem to notice or care that Cayde wasn't paying attention. He produced a data chip. "I have crucial information that I need to download into the school system as to help the students of Beacon Academy prepare in the event SIVA manages to get here. I forgot the password though and I cannot find the password sheet. Info?"

"Barloc." Cayde said, as he turned to face him once more. "What kind of taken powers does Emerald have?"

"She's gassy."

"Who's the two kids I like?"

"Daisy, Ruby." Barloc then crossed his arms, annoyed. "Are you done with your little interrogation yet?"

"Almost." Cayde crept his hand closer to his gun out of sight. "How'd I do in the reef?"

"You did it horribly." Barloc stated flatly, as if it was a blatant fact. "Now, the pass-"

Barloc was cut short as he was shot in the chest three times with Ace, Cayde having fanned the hammer as if to ensure he hit any critical spots. Barloc fell to the floor, looking at Cayde in the eyes as he looked up. "W-why?"

"Multiple things." Cayde said as he continued to keep aim at him, while backing away. "One. Your responses aren't what they're supposed to be. You refer to Ruby as 'picnic girl' and Daisy as 'flytrap'. When you talk about the powers of light and dark, you state their scientific processes… and on top of that, you damn well know I remember the Reef."

In an instant, Barloc's pained expression changed to a grinning one, as he laughed at Cayde. "Oh my… I knew he was senile, but I didn't expect it to be that much. Then again, you always had a thing for hanging around the dead." He then got off the ground, staring at him as SIVA took over into a combat form. "After all, you tend to let a lot of people down with how useless you are. Like say, what was the fool's name? Sandal Flask?"

Cayde growled in annoyance, and was about to pull out his golden gun until he noticed Aksis charging at him again, this time with a drill for his left hand. He instead unsheathed Dreadfang and swiftly blocked, raising a void barrier that the drill instead struck. But rather than bouncing off due to the lack of impact, Aksis kept the arm there, rapidly draining the weapon's reservoir energy as Cayde looked for any sort of way out.

"You should just give up Cayde." Aksis laughed. "I know how much you've failed from the guardian files about you that we've obtained in the Cosmodrome. You've already failed Andal Brask. Failed your fireteam. Failed your little 'bet'. Failed to stop your 'daughter' from immersing herself into the Whirlwind's power. Failed everyone you ever knew and love, because you'd never be there for them when they needed it most. Ba Dar Ra, Lo Yur Sha, Lo Sher. A hunter who's little more than a mouse."

Cayde grit his teeth, not really listening to Aksis' words. It was then he got an idea. His beautiful horn would end up being scratched, but it's better than going out and joining the big infected petri dish in the Cosmodrome. He reeled his head back, charging it with all his light.

And headbutted Aksis.

Aksis stumbled back, apparently momentarily stunned as his body crackled with powerful energy. Cayde quickly took the opportunity to unleash a full 6-shooter golden gun at him, reducing him to ash as beams of light shot into the fake of his assistant. All just in time for Summer to barge in, having heard the noises and being able to watch as the fake was turned into ash.

Cayde's wiped off some of the steam that made his mechanical forehead moist. "Heya kiddo! How's SIVA coming along? Definitely wasn't Barloc I was shooting by the way."

Just then Daisy, Frederick, and Daisy's teammates came in through the window shattering it with their rifles up And all four looked confused as there was no one but Summer and Cayde and a pile of ashes.

Cayde turned to Frederick. "Oh hi Frederick."

"Cayde." Frederick replied nonchalantly as all four of them put their rifles down. He then looked at the pile of ash. Before scoffing. "Friend of yours?" He quipped while kicking the ash a bit.

"If you count getting your head bashed in and almost stabbed with a giant drill with red and black tendrils on it, then yeah, a good friend of mine." Cayde sarcastically quipped back, as he rubbed his head. His ghost hadn't healed it fully, but the leakage had at least stopped. Though now his horn was chipped from having headbutted the SIVA doppelganger of Barloc.

"Clearly Cayde." Daisy replied. "By the way, is that a new scar on your horn?"

"Don't remind me." Cayde grumbled, as he turned to Summer. "So, what's up kiddo? You wouldn't happen to know what that warlock I sent to assist you is up to at the moment?"

"He's still in the Plaguelands with Pyrrha." Summer said, as she looked Cayde over with a sad frown.

"That's a relief. Now I know I made a good bet."

She stopped at Dreadfang, her frown becoming stronger. "Cayde… is it alright?"

"Horn took quite a beating yeah. Scar from overuse of light, ain't gonna heal back." Cayde said, as he smiled at Dreadfang. "If it wasn't for old Dreadfang here, the zombie dude would've got me."

Though he wasn't what she was frowning at. In a fit of grief, Summer carefully took Dreadfang from Cayde, went down to her knees, held it up and the air, and let out of a cry of anguish. "NOOOOOOO!"

Cayde merely facepalmed. "Of course you're more worried about the sword."

"Daisy, is Summer always like this?" Daisy's warlock asked, confused at Summer's apparent lack of care for Cayde at that moment.

"Yea, she is." Daisy replied

"Thank God you didn't inherit her personality." The second teammate, a titan had said.

"Anyway, what do you really need Summer?" Cayde said completely ignoring Daisy's conversation.

"I came to talk about where I last died in my first life…" Summer choked out, as she stroked Dreadfang softly. "C-can Ozpin tell me where I was sent?"

"Yeah figured you came here for that, let me hit him up on the plasma." Cayde replied while picking up a remote only for the TV to not turn on. But a DVD player did shoot out an old Star System Wars CD.

"Uh Cayde, that was the DVD player." Daisy pointed out with a smirk under her helmet

"Damn remotes. They all look the same!"

"They're LITERALLY color coded Cayde." Frederick pointed out in exasperation, until he also noticed something on one of the remotes. "And labeled?!"

"Okay, maybe my optics DO need some teensy weeny adjusting." Cayde said in defense, as this time he picked up the right remote. He then turned on the TV, which only took a few seconds to fully start up, during that time he gave a text to Ozpin over his scroll to be ready for a little meeting. After a couple minutes of time, in which Cayde used to quickly bandage up the horn and fix his hood, Ozpin came onto the TV screen.

Ozpin was planning on immediately answering with a happy greeting and asking what they needed, but had to pause at the damage on Cayde's horn. "Hello Cayde… did something happen at Remnant's Vanguard Headquarters?"

Cayde turned to look at Summer. "Think you can handle this?"

Summer, who was recovering from the loss of Dreadfang, mentally preparing a funeral for said weapon, sniffed and stood up. "Should we give some good news before the bad news, or vice versa?"

"Up to you guys." Cayde said, waving them off. "I got paperwork to deal with, and as much as I'd like to chat, I also have a horn to nurse."

As Cayde walked off, Summer also turned to Frederick and Daisy. "Well, I'm also leaving this up to you guys. I'm dreading the mere idea that Cayde's sword will lose it's fang, if I don't fix it." She then turned to Ozpin on the screen. "You know where I last died? Like, what mission?"

Ozpin paused for a moment in thought. "We don't have records of this stuff unfortunately, as they were lost in the invasion. However, if I do recall correctly, the mission was somewhere around what we call, the Land Of Darkness-"

"'Kay thanks bye!" Was all Summer said, as she blinked out of the room and out the window, leaving Daisy, Frederick, and the warlock and titan that came with Daisy to deal with Ozpin.

"As undisciplined as she usually is I see. At least in regards to professionalism." Ironwood said, as he also came onto the TV screen, having heard everything. The man had a dirty beard on him this time around, and he was looking a little under the weather "Should I warn the soldiers who created a beachhead there?"

"Knowing the newfound Summer Rose, chances of her dying there again would be extremely unlikely, and I'm sure she'll not care to aim on minimizing damage this time. So yes, you should warn your soldiers." Ozpin said in regards to the troops Ironwood was talking about, before giving focus back to Daisy. "So Ms. Daisy. Was your mission a success?"

"It was. And remind me to castrate every drug lord there is." Daisy replied as she walked out as did everyone else.

Ozpin sighed in annoyance at being left alone once more, as he stared out from the TV monitor. "I never get a thank you…"

"On the bright side, the people still look to you with absolute loyalty." Ironwood pointed out. "These guardians, though…"

"Don't remind me of them." Ozpin shuddered at the mere mention of the newcomers to the world.

"If this is what they're like, I am afraid of how far down Summer Rose goes in terms of maturity." Was all Ironwood said, as he took a seat on the table, the hand on his own coffee being the only thing visible.

"Touche, my friend. Touche."

0000

Deep in the Grimmlands Dredgen Vena got off the hacked security cameras from outside of Cayde's to Merlot and Watts enhancements and new skills they at least managed to hack the security cameras of the CCT tower and Beacon Academy but only for short periods of time due to Ghosts and Warlocks constantly updating the Firmware and Firewalls of the damned thing.

She saw Aksis with a newly designed toy trying to infect the CCT, but failed due to inadequate information. However thanks to her little snooping she did find out that Summer was coming here just not specifically looking for them, but some old mementos. She walked to the Throne Room where she saw Cinder practicing with a combat form that uses her semblance with her Maiden powers. Vernal and Raven just sat back and watched. With Raven all the more annoyed as to why she was even here, and not caring for the few remnants of her bandit tribe.

Which in all honesty was a stupid idea in hindsight but no matter. Her anger was more towards her brother for getting her "Family" killed by these pests. Vernal didn't feel or even looked comfortable here. She felt Vena's eyes look in her direction before walking to Salem as if they were long time friends rather than forced allies. She walked up the steps and stared dead into the White Grimm Witch's red eyes.

"By any chance, do you still have that traitor's old sword?" Vena stated more then asked.

"I do. What of it?" Salem responded all the while not looking away from Cinders performance.

"Give them to me. I have a plan that involves that old thing you have locked up here. And with a bit of help, Merlot can make it even more useful and get those Atlas and Guardian forces off the Grimmlands.

Salem's eyes widened. "She's coming here!?"

"Yes. Now, do you want those Atlas forces and Guardians off your shore's you idly let on because of your incompetence, or not?" Vena stated before overpowering Salem with her own malice.

Salem grit her teeth in frustration as she considered going to use her power in full again, before taking a deep breath. "Fine. What good does it do if we give her the old weapon?" Salem asked

"With that creature, we can hopefully infect her and make it spread." Vena stated, as she then placed a finger on her ear. "Merlot, Vena here. You know that old Grimm you've been studying? We're giving it a test run on the Island. If it's a success, then we launch test 2 of the enhanced prototypes in Mistral."

"Of course but I do have one suggestion against that idea."

"What might that be?"

"Its intelligence is… massive. If we lose it, we lose any history this beautiful creature has."

"I don't care, we unleash it now."

"As you wish."

0000

"And you're certain you need the chainsaw cannons?" Drei said with a droll, as he watched Summer replace the guns on Frederick's ship with chainsaw cannons. "The very same things you used against some of the other giant SIVA monsters that have been spotted running about the Plaguelands? We really don't need these."

"One. There is never such a thing called 'no need for chainsaws'." Summer said as she finishes attaching the last cannon among the dozens of others… and also adding unnecessarily high amounts of duct tape to them all. "Two, I also wanna give these bad boys a test run." She then produced about a dozen dormant SIVA clusters.

Frederick spared a worried glance towards Summer, before looking away, mumbling to himself as he noted without Summer hearing it. "Hope those don't stick…"

"SIVA powered chainsaw cannons." Drei whistled in awe. "Lemme guess, self-"

"Replicating chainsaws." Summer's eyes shone with delight. "Complete with every elemental combination of arc, solar, and void. We're gonna literally rip and tear through the grimm!" She let out a squee of joy, dancing in place a bit and only barely hearing Ruby coming up from behind.

"Hey mom, can I ask you something?" Ruby asked

"You just did sweetie." Summer said with a huge smirk on her face.

This causes Ruby to blush and pout a bit. "Mooooom!"

"Kidding, kidding." Summer laughed a bit at the face Ruby was making. "What is it my fellow gun buddy?"

"I was wondering if i could go with you." Ruby asked.

Almost instantly, Summer tensed, stopping what she was doing to look Ruby in the eyes.

"...No."

"But mom!"

"Ruby, I died where I was going…" Summer stated with sad, yet firm conviction in her voice as she stared Ruby in the eyes.

"But how long will you be? Shouldn't take too long to find your old sword!"

"Ruby, please…." Summer pleaded to her daughter holding her hands together. "I didn't plan to leave you here alone the last time. And while I certainly don't plan to ever again, this is uncharted territory to both the Vanguard and all of Remnant. For all I know, this could be another one of Salem's hideouts, and we could be giving her a better chance to..."

"What? But Daisy's going with you!" Ruby stated as a matter of fact, pointing to Daisy who was carrying a few weapons into the ship.

"Grandpa and Summer aren't taking me either." Was all Daisy said, as she placed a weapons crate down. "Just let it be, Ruby. They'll be fine. Grandpa would get hit by the moon, and still be able to keep Drei and Summer safe from harm."

"You're not helping by just quitting like that Daisy!" Ruby said in exasperation.

However Summer did hug Ruby close and tight. Rubbing her back before kissing her head, though she had to stand up a little more for the latter half. "Don't waste your life doing something vain, my rosebud. Go hang out with your friends." She smiled at her, before she broke the hug and entered the ship.

"Ready to lift off Fred?" Summer asked

"Yep." Frederick replied as he started the Engines and started preparing for the lift off.

They then started to hover in the air. Flying out of the hangar, the ship's hangar bay closed as Frederick pushed the throttle forward. The ship slowly left the hangar, before speeding off into the location they were heading to.

00000

In the land of Darkness a Atlas Cruiser was stationed along the shore with a landing beach head for the area. in the control Center. A short old woman contemplated whether or not to pull back as a new enemy was upon them. Despite the Guardians being a help She sighs as she has no choice but to retreat and Scorch the area as she left.

"Pilots, ignite the engines and recall all Patrols. We can't hold this line." The women said.

"Commander Caroline, what about the Guardians!?" Said one of the Communication officers.

"Open all channels, we can't deal with this threat like this!" Caroline stated

"Ma'am, I can't get through to platoon Commanders Cody and Rex!" Said another Comms officer.

"What's the rate of this thing spreading!?" She stated.

That's when they felt a large bang from the rear of the cruiser.

"MA'AM MAIN ENGINES WENT OFFLINE I CAN'T GET THEM STARTED!" Said one of the Pilots.

"Get me Engine maintenance! Have all Gunships prepared for Evac!" Caroline ordered

"Ma'am Engineer squad 2487 aren't responding!"

"What!?"

"Wait, I'm getting a signal!"

"OH FOR THE…*STATIC* HELP! IT'S THE GRIMM…*STATIC* NOOOOOOO!..."

"Was that Scotty!?" Said the logistics officer

Caroline looked to a ballad man manning one of the Radar stations.

"Gunny Lazar, Take a Squad of SAWs and Flame throwers and clear the engine Room! Where Evacing off this Island." She ordered.

"YES MA'AM!"

He grabbed his rifle and made to leave the control center. A loud bang stopped him in his tracks.

"...Commander…"

They heard another Bang, but this time it dented the Hatch.

"Everyone to the Escape hatch!" Caroline ordered.

"What about you Commander!?" Said one of the comms officers.

"Get out of here and get everyone evaced to the gunships!" Caroline ordered.

They all looked at each other before nodding. They took out their pistols and rifles that were immediately next to them and all formed a somewhat line of defense in front of the door as the bangs continued to grow louder and the hatch dented more. The sound of sloshing pigs and flesh was heard on the other side. She Immediately got on the open channels.

"This is commander Caroline of the Atlas Cruiser "Everest". We are overrun by unknown grim hostiles Evac to the Hangars. Gunship pilots get to your seats and prep for Evac and get as far away with as many people as possible! We can't hold this line, I repeat, fall back to the Hangers and evacuate by gunship, that's an Order!" Caroline repeated the order several times on all Channels.

The Guardians in the air and ground immediately falled back while trying to save as many soldiers from this threat as they retreated. People scrambled to the hangers as well as the pilots to the gun ships trying to get them to hover to blast off when they had enough people in them. Unfortunately for those in the Control room. The hatch was losing its integrity. And she pulled out her pistol as she was done relaying orders to the air born Guardians and Gunships.

"It was an honor to be on command of this ship and its crew." Caroline said aloud.

The escape hatch then collapsed as they tried to get to it only for the escape elevator to fall unexpectedly as if someone had cut the car cables. All the soldiers in the room and Caroline looked at the door again and something shot through the titanium reinforced hull of the Hatch before pulling out. Showing the shadows of grotesque monsters giving off the sounds of dead or dying like pigs that are throwing up.

"And it was an honor to be under your command Commander." Gunny Lazar said as they all aimed their rifles at the hatch.

"And I, the same." Caroline said as the hatch was ripped off its frame.

And everyone screamed a hellish symphony of war cries as their rifles and pistols fired. And blood stained the Control rooms observation ports, as they had their last stand.

00000

Frederick started refitting one of his many Pulse rifles with Summers' idea of a Chainsaw attachment or basically a Bayonet of sorts.

"Looking great, I gotta commend the handiwork." Summer stated as she saw her friend toy with the Chainsaw idea.

"It's a rather crude attachment but given that the Grimm are well just mindless beast I'm sure they'll won't mind a Hard light powered Chainsaw Bayonet." Frederick replied.

That's when they heard a beep coming from the cockpit and Frederick immediately went to the pilot seat. He noticed a small Island that's about five miles or so away from the Land of Darkness. Hundreds of intact and heavily damaged Gun Atlas gunships were there as well as people trying to get wounded out of them. As well as what appears to be survivors of some kind. Summer however only looked at the horizon to see that the Atlas Cruiser up ahead was on fire in some places. And looked worse for wear.

"Any station available, this is Guardian Dropship "Nightmare" calling anyone on this channel, come in over?" Frederick said on the coms.

"This is Atlas Gunship "Romeo" to Guardian Dropship "Nightmare" we read you loud and clear." Said the coms

"I need a place to land on the Island. Acknowledged?"

"Copy "Nightmare" coordinates sent to your Hud Awaiting your landing."

Frederick then followed the coordinates to a small clearing. Several Atlas Soldiers in blue and orange combat Armor awaited the landing. When the ship's hangar bay opened showing Frederick and Summer as they walked down. The two men in front of the few soldiers saw them and one recognized that it was Summer Rose the hero of Remnant and even recognized Frederick who was the hero of Menagerie. Both men gave a salute before Frederick returned the gesture.

"Greetings to the two star Heros. Please follow us. We'll debrief you on the way to the ALock area." The man in blue said.

Summer and Frederick nodded as they followed the men.

"I'm Captain Rex of the 501st Atlas Marine Corp Drop Battalion." The man in blue said.

"And I'm Commander Cody of the 212th Atlas Marine Attack Battalion."

"What happened here?" Summer spoke up as Frederick looked about the hastily set up medical tents.

"That's sadly one of the problems. We don't know what attacked us. Other than that we were losing men fast and hard. It was so dark we couldn't see what was attacking us." Rex stated as he looked sadly to his wounded comrades.

"And the ones that survived there...closer encounters with these new unknown grim types are… well they broke under some sort of psychological pressure." Cody continued.

"The voices!" Said a random soldier from there right who was getting strapped down and immobilized by several others and combat medics. "OH BROTHERS THE VOICES!"

"Should we check up on that one?" Summer slowly asked, out of concern for what happened to the soldier, before quickly whispering. "Also what kind of voices were you listening to, hentai?"

"You're welcome to try, but we couldn't get anything out of him other than promises of self-harm." Rex sighed as he looked away.

"Okay… not the voices I was expecting."

They finally reached the A Lock camp where the command center was as well. Several people looked at a halo map of the area so far that was catalogued but the rest of the Island was unknown. The clothes the Commanders wore were similar to that of Ironwoods but refitted for combat to be practical for an up armored uniform. And one looked like he was from the Valen Bounty Hunters Guild. As well as Handcannons that looked like Duke Mk 44.s in Drop leg holsters with molle belts around there's waists with Cylinder pouches.

One was a rather older middle aged man who seemed to be in thought as he was listening closely to and a rather angular brown beard. He had what also looked like a beauty mark on his forehead mostly been there since birth. He had nothing more than a refitted officers uniform with a collar breach armor protecting his neck and sternum with white atlas gauntlets and leg armor. Another had brown hair to his shoulders like that of a surfer. His blue eyes also starred in thought as he listened in to the current coms coming in from returning rescue gunships. His uniform was more crude and not Atlas like in color because of the brown and black color scheme

The last one was obviously the Bounty Hunter. He had chest armor that looked like Cayde's except for the molly belt with the cylinder pouches for his dual Handcannons. And an extra ammo satchel on his left leg with what looked like knight like leg armor and a welding mask. As they noticed the two Guardians enter the A lock tent as well as the junior officers, the junior officers saluted the three as they went on through.

"Hello there." The older man said.

"Let me guess."

"Oh no not this…"

"Kenobi, Skywalker, and what Plo koon?" Summer started with a smile, as Frederick facepalmed.

The three looked at each other in confusion before turning back to her, unaware of what she meant.

"No, I'm Luke. That's Tullius, and that's… I'm sorry but your name?" Luke said to the masked individual.

"Digar Kuvaldar. Call me Digar." The masked man said with a grunt of annoyance. "Ugh…"

"So do you guys know what happened?" Summer asked

"Sadly much like what Rex and Cody told you, we don't know. One day we're fine as the Grimm started disappearing from the lines. Next thing we knew, we were losing soldiers left and right and had to retreat here because our wounded would have died sooner than later." The worry was evident in Tullius' voice as he spoke. "Guardians are the only thing keeping the line as it is, and they're barely managing to hold it off without casualties. Between you and me, this thing went to hell in a handbasket way too fast."

"We haven't been able to get in contact with Commander Caroline in the past hour after she gave the troops the order to retreat after losing contact with her. Her signal is faint, but is still somewhere in the "Everest". We can't risk a recovery mission with our depleted forces that took a hard hit. Hell Cody and Rex with their Battalions were close to being wiped, and we haven't even got word of what hit us while guardians were down there fighting almost non-stop. There's also the fact that some troopers are still on the Island." Digar said as he showed the Evac points of the known parts of the Island.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Frederick replied

"Is there anyway we can help?" Summer asked

"Other than saving folks? Nope." Luke said as he sat back in a folding chair.

"We do need better medicine though for those returning to Atlas." Tullius pointed out. "Not that you guys are carrying a supply of it I'm betting."

"Actually, we do. A nice amount of it is in my ship." Frederick replied. "However, Summer's gonna need a ride out to the Dark Lands, because we're here for a different reason."

That's when the Comms opened up.

"General Tullius! I finally got in contact with General Ironwood, calling now." Said a Radio Operator who finally got the radio Com lines up and running.

"Patch it through." Darrell replied and Ironwood's voice came through the coms line.

"This is General Ironwood of the Atlalisan Armed forces does anyone read me?" Ironwood's voice stated.

"This is General Tullius of the Atlas Marine Corp To General Ironwood, we read you over."

"What happened, General." Ironwood avidly said with no shred of anger in his voice. "I've been waiting hours just to get a report back from any of you."

"Something was jamming our comms over her, I take it? You did get the message I sent from another Guardian, right?" Tullius asked with a raised brow.

"I did. Where's Caroline?" Ironwood replied.

"MIA." Tullius said with a sigh. "Last we heard from her was her giving her last orders from the control room of the "Everest" We still have a faint signal from her scroll but we cant send a strike team to recover her from the ship due to heavily depleted forces."

"Roger, Get the wound back to Atlas, I already have another Cruiser "Fortitude" incoming. If Summer Rose is there, help her out any way you can." Ironwood replied

"Copy that."

"Copy over and out." Ironwood's last reply was.

Tullius sighs as he then looks at the map of the known Region. He then looked about the Evac points.

"You said Summer Rose needs a lift?" Tullius asked

"Yeah, her ships are currently sent to the Tower for repairs." Frederick replied he then looked at Summer. "I find it funny your belief that your machines work with just faith itself to be most odd. Considering that the power fluctuations thanks to Cayde's stealth drives should have exploded your ship but only caused significant damage to the Frame."

"Really?" Summer replied. Her attention was brought to Tullius who coughed for said attention.

Tullius then pointed to a Evac point called "Alpha 2" that was literally the only one on the beach "near" the ship. Though the forests around it didn't seem to be friendly.

"I can get you to the evac point on the Starboard side of the "Everest." However you are going to have to go through the lower decks of the ship to get to the other side as the ship was positioned in a way that Grimm would be bottlenecked into this Narrow path coming from the mountains. Save whoever you can."

00000

Dustiniz117 Omake:

Summer Rose approached the casket near the shores of one of Vale's beaches, wearing mourners black shader for her armor. Behind her, several guests, bystanders and her daughter, a fellow mourner stood.

"Dear friends, we are gathered here today to mourn the passing of a valued member of our team."

Ruby bawled her eyes and cried. Weiss, who was watching with half lidded eyes, watched this ridiculous event. "This is completely stupid…" Ruby silenced her with a quick shush.

Summer stared into the casket gazing at the departed Dreadfang in pieces resting on velvet interior. She then nudged the coffin with her foot into the surf and waited till it went a good distance and used her Golden Gun to set it on fire, giving the weapon a proper viking funeral.

As the assembled gazed at the fire on the water, Barloc approached Cayde and whispered, "She does know that she could of reforged that right?"

"The last time someone said that to her, she gave him so many boots to the face, every time he's revived by his Ghost, he has a boot on his face."

"But that titan friend of hers could easily-"

"Yeah, no, not touching the goop." Frederick said flatly, as if there was no room to talk on that.

Barloc looked around everyone involved, genuinely confounded at what was happening. "...This has to be the best- no, worst few hours of time I'd ever wasted." He then sighed, as he gave a mock salute towards the casket. "Next thing I know, that very guardian appears before me with a boot on his head."

He then caught the scent of a fish fresh out of the ocean. Turning around, he saw a hunter with a boot on his head.

"I'm cold, I'm wet, I have a boot with a fish on my head from being buried within the ocean, IN a pile of boots!" The hunter drawled out to Cayde-6, who was more amused by how he ended up like this. "And now the sword's gone! Why didn't you guys stop her?!"

"Nice boot by the way, Jack." Cayde-6 gave Jack a thumbs up. "Make sure you give that fish to the kitty cat over there, maybe use those flames to heat the thing up."

Barloc promptly slammed his head into the armrest of the chair he was on.

"Do we have to do this?" Daisy whispered to Yang whom the rest if RWBY was next to her. All with ceremonial rifles in the Order Arms Position.

"Look it's for Ruby ok. I hate this as much as you do, my legs are killing me too. How can you three stand this?" Yang whispered back.

Almost immediately, the other three whispered back at the same time. "Combat training."

"And dance training." Weiss finished up on her own, causing everyone in their quiet conversation to look at her. When she noticed, she continued. "Ballet requires one not only to be precise in movement, but also with strong and flexible legs. Also I myself had to stand for hours on ends back home."

Yang just sighed and continued to stand there. "Why me?"

Ruby stood up with tears in her eyes. "Port. Arms!"

Daisy and WBY then as if in the silent drill team. Lifted the rifles by their fore grips and placed their right hands on the pistol grips.

"Half right face, Arms!"

They then turned slightly to the right.

"Shoulder, ARMS."

Everyone watched as Daisy and the other girls shoulders the butstock of the guns to their shoulders.

"BEGIN 21 GUN SALUTE!" Ruby stated as she and Summer saluted the casket as the four girls fired a volley of 4 bullets 6 times.

"I counted 24 shots, not the required amount." Barloc whispered under his breath.

"Thanks wizard of the obvious." Frederick muttered as well.


	24. Garden of Death

Summer looked out the door of the ship's slide door, of which was something that could be held and locked in place in the event of needing to hide from enemy fire. The Grimmlands looked so dark with unnatural red light beaming from the trees. Dark red leaves billowed in the wind as the sound of gun-fire was now getting closer. Using her helmet's Zoom function, she looked in on a 4-man team of guardians that were holding the line.

Orbs were scattered everywhere as the two warlocks fired nova bomb after nova bomb, the lone hunter in the midst of the group constantly firing tethers into the armies of grimm. The titan was also doing all he could, popping bubbles and throwing down hammers that chained their explosions onto the other grimm. She judged from the sheer amount of orbs and ammo casings at the area below, that they must've been holding ground for hours on end, and judging by their sluggish movement, they were tiring of the constant battle.

She also saw some men in what appeared to be a different style of body armor for the Atlas Marines retreating to the Evac points previously established with the Guardians holding them giving the Marines the chance to get off the Island. Just then she turned to the cockpit of the Gunship as the pilot started to talk.

"Evac point Alpha 2 is just ahead Guardian, This is as far as I can take you. Hope you enjoyed 'FoeHammers' inflight services." The Female Pilot spoke as she landed the Gunship in the makeshift loading area.

Summer got out and saw the Marines load up and looked at the Pilot.

"Sure thing Brohammer." She replied cheekily.

"Don't get yourself perma-deathed out here." The Pilot quips back playfully as she takes off with another load of personnel.

Summer turned around to see machine gun nests with titans manning them.

"No need to tell me twice." She thought to herself as she took Thorn from its holster and sprinted down the trail.

It was then that some of the guardians around took note of Summer, taking a small moment of pause. "Holy sh-"

The guardian that was about to curse at that point in time was given a bullet to the knee, causing him to flinch. He turned to see a titan who had fired but a single bullet out of his nest at him, who shook his head. "You know the Vanguard Policy, right? Rule number 117?"

"Ok, but it's Summer my guys! The Traveler's Wolf! You don't see her outside of the Crucible much nowadays!"

"Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that while the grimm get closer to the line." Said another titan.

"Yes Squad leader." The Cursing Titan grumbled back, annoyed at everyone's lack of enthusiasm for the slayer of Oryx as he muttered. "Burn those grimm until their butts become steak, Summer."

"Ms. Summer!" The warlock called out, as they continued to throw nova bomb after nova bomb into the grimm. "Thank goodness you're here, could you spare a moment with-."

"Oh my god, it's Summer!?" The hunter of the group said, literally dropping her void bow as she swiveled on her heel to look at Summer.

"Anahera-3!" The leading titan barked out. "Keep the pressure up!"

The exo hunter sputtered in embarassment for a second before letting out a quick apology, and continuing to fire. This caused Summer to get interested though, and she pulled out her own void bow, and ran around with the exo, which caused her to pause again.

"I-I'm sorry, but I just couldn't help but stop for a second! I'd never thought I'd meet you!" The exo hunter gushed out, as she sniped a grimm in the face.

"You wanted to meet me?" Summer couldn't help but ask, wondering the peculiar reaction.

"Y-yes, you see I-I… I-I mean I'm the leader of the clan- oh jeez, umm…" The hunter seemed to stumble over her words in nervousness.

"Clan 'oh jeez'? Sounds like a great name." Summer couldn't help but tease the hunter's nervousness, which caused her to sputter more.

"U-um what I meant to say Ms. Summer, is that I have vital information for you about Everest!"

"Just send the info to my ghost, ghost ID credentials #7866377." Summer quickly said, as she readied Young Wolf's Howl. "I got little time to waste this week, looking for a memento."

"Wait!"

She once more looked to Anahera-3, as the exo fired off another arrow before quickly pulling out a scout rifle she knew as 'The Burning Eye'. "P-please sign my gun!"

Summer stood in silence for a few seconds as she idly fired a shot into the grimm again, not able to process for a while. "Anahera-3, right?"

"Yes ma'am!"

Drei summoned a pen for her to use, and signed Anahera-3's gun. "Remind me to check out that clan of yours as well."

She then left the exo to her duty, who got back into it with a newfound haste as Summer cut through the grimm in a tornado of white fire. She couldn't help but notice that there weren't any red trees in her first death. Then again, it probably was because a blood moon hadn't hit the place yet, and that according to the warlocks, it wasn't hitting it today. She then turned to her left past the last machine gun nest, and jogged down the only man-made trail to the Everest, striking down whatever grimm got in her way. No one, not even the Titans, knew about the red eyes of a spiteful spirit watching Summer like a ship in the night.

00000

Frederick went about putting a drop of his special serum in IV Bags for the critically wounded who sadly didn't have the strength to swallow a drop of it. The Corpsmen were very impressed by the stuff as it worked better than any of the morphine they had on hand. He often did this with Civilians who had decided to travel to the Last City for refuge. Though not many Guardians appreciate him interacting with Civilians. But he honestly didn't care as it was grounded in a Titan's heart to be the Shield of the weak. Or the Sword if need be.

Thankfully, the Awoken had managed to procure and ship the medicine when they could thanks To Petra. He was grateful for the Awoken's generosity as they took kindly to the Guardian outcasts like him and others within his order. After getting to the last critically injured Marine and putting a drop of the last of his serum from his med kit he had on hand. The Chief Corpsman asked to speak with him.

"You wanted to speak with me Chief?"

"Yes, I was wondering where you got this medicine? Works a lot better than our stuff." The chief couldn't help but note with a tone of slight awe. "The soldiers are getting up and ready to fight in what seems like only moments of time."

"It was made by a Warlock. An agent of the vanguard, now banished and taken in by the Reef. The Awoken are the ones who produce it." Frederick replied.

"I see. How expensive is it? This could be a great medical asset to all militias and the Atlas Military as a whole and is far better than our primitive medicines." The Corpsman asked.

"It costs about 55000 Glimmer as well as 20 Legendary tokens a crate. Which I doubt you know of our currency systems back in Sol." Frederick replied.

"I see..." The Corpsman sighs as he says back to his work desk cluttered in medical paperwork, rubbing his chin in thought as he considered things. "Is there any way we can make a deal with these 'Awoken'? They're those blue skinned people correct?"

"Yes, but the Reef Awoken are not them." He motioned to the few Awoken warlocks running about and healing soldiers with their own light powers. "Those are Guardians resurrected on other planets. You'd have to set up an appointment with the Acting Regent Petra Venj to come up with a deal. I can try seeing if she will see your Medical Corp." Frederick replied.

"Which reminds me, why do you not use your light to heal the soldiers like your Warlocks? And why were they so adamant about not using your serum?"

"They pride themselves as healers sometimes and would rather use their light over practical medicine and forms of healing. It's a complicated story, but to keep it short, let's just say we guardians have our own form of racism towards other guardian classes..."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Guess no matter what world we live in, some people still gotta be idiots." The Corpsman then held out his hand. "I'm John, John Carter and head Corpman of the 501st Medical Corp."

Frederick shook it. "Frederick. Frederick Mendez."

0000

Summer managed to reach the "Everest" and was shocked at how big the Cruiser actually was. She actually wondered if this was a newer model as the ones she was on were a lot smaller.

"Drei, what's the size of this thing?" Summer spoke breathlessly as she stared in awe of the sheer size of the ship.

"I personally don't care for that detail, as I'm more worried about what dragged it down, but at this point I'm used to it since we constantly put ourselves in what should be unsurvivable danger." Drei sarcastically replied as he got out, scanning the ship from afar for an approximation of its size. "Height is nearly 140 meters, with the width being 15 more than that and the length being 3 times the size. Roughly the size of a Ketch, if not more."

Summer whistled as she scanned the side of the ship for an opening of some sort. That calm of searching was broken when a random explosion shook the ground beneath her, and a hole was blasted out the side of the ship. It was on fire as well.

"That seems to have been the munitions Block. But what set off any explosives?"

Walking closer to the hole she saw several dead bodies of what appeared to be Atlas Marines. However when she entered the room, she checked for a pulse only to find none. It definitely could have been caused by an anti material rifle like Ruby's Crescent Rose. But there was no exit wound, and on top of this the body looked to be partially eaten by an animal of sorts.

She scanned the area as she checked the three other bodies that sadly were in the same condition as the first one. The scenery was beginning to look increasingly grim as she went on through the area. Flies buzzed around many of the corpses as she went on, continuing to find nothing but the same signs. It was incredibly strange and unnerving to see such a sight. Like the Grim decided to try eating the bodies like they are known for doing on occasion, but were spooked by the explosion. And most grimm aren't easily spooked. Drei scanned several remains of what appeared to be red barrels.

"Dust Plasma for the Standard issue Plasma Rifle. But something shot these barrels. Strange what or who shot them. There's enough of these to start a chain reaction that should've blown through to the Engine room. It looked like there was an attempt to start that, but it was stopped somehow... what stopped the chain reaction?" Drei began to ponder as he finished his scan, looking about the area once more.

The eerily creepy atmosphere was starting to unsettle Summer. She looked about more that is till a door opened and in fright she looked at the door. Looking at the door where it opened, she saw a blood covered human, of whom looked like an officer of sorts. Just walking about Like she wasn't even there. Like some sort of auto pilot was on. He was also leaking blood from his side, clutching it all the while.

Her first thought was to ask him what happened here, but she immediately brushed aside the idea. She instead just brought out her gun. "Hey! Stay where you are!"

Without even looking at her, the man instantly became filled with mortal terror. He immediately shot himself in front of her before she could do anything to stop it.

Summer stood still for a second, not used to seeing a target obliterate itself. Well, at least ones that didn't explode that is. "What's going on here?

_**STALKER.**_

Summer immediately pointed her gun at the door and something sprinted in a blur. Summer said nothing as she figured whatever Oryx was talking about must've been bad, as she followed it down the bulkhead. However the next door just closed up on her. She felt her body impact the hull hard and immediately bounce off the cold armor grade steel. She looked to her right and saw that only two paths opened up. But one literally had a pile of Rubble and blood on it so she opted to go down the other cleaner Block. Taking great care of where she stepped.

After turning the corner she heard gun fire in the ship. Running down the grey bulck heads she came across a few Atlas Marines trying to fire at something beyond a bulkhead. Only to be shot at by someone on the other side. The last two also got shot before she could make it. Turning to her right into the open bulkhead. It was empty, except for the casings of the weapons they were using.

Kneeling down she picked up a few brass casings inspecting them closely. Looking away from them she noticed a lot of blood along the walls and the floors. Several doors of this bulkhead were barricaded by what appeared to be crates.

"Drei, scan this for me." Summer

He then appeared and scanned the crates. If anything it was a hastily built barrier meant to keep something from coming In or out.

"There's a lot of DNA I'm sensing on the other side but just blood, no heat signature." Drei stated.

"This place is reminding me of The Stills… or some cheesy-"

That's when she heard something from behind her. Drawing thorn. She saw a black cloaked figure with a white mask, with black sunken eye holes. Summer was confused at this familiar pressure. Like it was strangling her soul. The being then took a couple steps in front of her, until it was suddenly right next to her without even the slightest of warning.

_**"You have no power over me, Witch."**_

Summer instinctively rolled back and fired a few rounds into the figure's mask, of which did nothing. It was like the bullets just couldn't affect them in the slightest, and the being only seemed to become aggravated, the holes in the mask glowing red in response to each shot.

"What are you?" Summer couldn't help but ask, as some sort of distorted ring went on in her ears. She felt her balance begin to waver in response to the ringing, even though she tried her best to ignore it.

It then removed its mask.

_**"Who do you think it is?"**_

She didn't like that response and tried firing a round from her cursed Hand Cannon but its Thorn missed its mark as her dark Shadow grabbed her wrist and placed a foot behind her shim and forced her to the ground before jumping back to gain some distance as Summer tried firing a few more rounds. Which her doppelganger dodged. Summer got up but was caught off guard. Her doppelgangers black sunken eyes bled black and red.

_**"You can not escape the dark fate that awaits you and your pathetic race."**_

Summer tried to load her Gjallarhorn as she watched them closely for an attack, of which they never gave.

_**"You can already see it, Child of Oryx, Yor, and Dark. I'm you. And your light is fading."**_

"Summer, what are you doing?!"

As if brought back to reality, she suddenly came to realize that she was actually just about to blow herself up. A flurry of painful sensations made conscious as the ringing went away, and she felt the pain of Thorn's, well, thorns in her body, as she had been shooting herself in multiple areas. She fell down in exhaustion that she only now just came to realize, finding extra bullets up in the roof of the ship.

"Oh nothing, just saw something weird from the moon. Mind giving me a rez?"

00000

Frederick took a look at the few more… hysterical patients. He couldn't bear to hear the voices and screams of agony the boys produced. It was like feeling a knife getting stabbed into his soul. Whatever happened to them it gave them clear signs of Shellshock, possibly on the road to PTSD.

"We've been trying to get them to calm down. Using sedatives, your Serum, trying to see if there's chemicals screwing them up. Hell, we even just gave them someone to listen to them. But nothing worked. Something messed them up real bad." Chief said while sadly looking at the state of these few men.

"I'm gonna try something. But don't report this to the Vanguards. And make sure no one enters this tent." Frederick replied while not looking at Chief.

"But why?"

"Remember when I said that we Guardians, even though we don't care about race, we throw a fit over the other's classes?" It was more of a statement than a question, as the air around them seemed to become warmer.

Chief nods.

"It's more of a half truth. True, few ever try to put themselves in the other side's shoes back home. But even fewer consider the alternatives as to how to make their light shine."

He got on a knee and held his hands together bowing his head. As if in prayer. This confused the Chief for a moment before Golden wings grew across Fredericks' back and a blinding light radiated from his body. That's when the Chief knew from the presence alone that he understood why. And so did what Frederick asked of him. As the light coming from his body touched the soldiers who frantically were trying to get away from the light all the while forgetting that they were strapped down to their stretchers. Then the glow touched them; and Frederick's mind went away to a different place.

00000

Summer continued to walk about the destroyed ship. Taking notes of the bodies that looked like they were just stabbed and tossed away while others looked like they died by friendly fire. It creeped her out to no end. Trying to find the exit of the ship to the port side. However after coming across a map of the area. She was only lucky that the previous explosion had made that hole in the bullheads. Port side was where she needed to go.

Now only Atlas wasn't so uniform that she couldn't use anything but her hunter instinct to navigate, because everything looked the same!

"Summer there's a door up a head that looks like it's blocked by crates. Can we get a look?" Drei asked.

Summer didn't say a word as she walked up to the door. Blood was everywhere on the crates. Looking over she saw no bodies in the room. Just more pools of blood and stained walls. Even more shell casings lay spent on the floor.

"Drei I'm moving-."

Before Summer could continue that sentence, a body fell from the ceiling. Like a rag doll it just flopped onto the crates before the kinetic force made it fall off the crates and onto the bloody floor. She stood in silence for a bit, before continuing. "I'm going to move the crates. Do a scan if you can."

"Gotcha."

"And be aware of the ghosties, you don't wanna get spooked."

Drei groaned in annoyance as Summer laughed, before deciding to talk to someone else altogether as she moved the crates out of the way._ Oryx, what I saw earlier... was that your doing?_

_**You actually think I would do something so weak? HA! That 'projection' was base level at most; a pitiful attempt at disorienting you. If it was truly me, you would've had more of a threat, as everything I do can, and will be physical in power.**_

_So then what was that… cheap copy of me?_

_**Nothing more than the natural energies of Darkness itself. Much like the previous owner of Thorn's power, the first fallen light, they simply plague your mind.**_

_Great. And I'm guessing you're not going to shut that off._

_**Hmmm, let me think about that… YES.**_

The two were brought out of their musings when they heard the sound of a screaming soldier getting pulled away by something. Summer immediately ran after the soldier she barely caught a glimpse of. However after catching up she noticed something slimy was wrapped around his leg and he was getting pulled fast. His screams for help went out to the bulkheads. She tried reaching out for him only to miss as he was pulled up to the ceiling through a hatch she pulled out thorn and fried through the cracks of the grades where she saw whatever was pulling the soldier. But unfortunately thorns rounds were too big and the soldiers were then pulled away in the dark of the deck above her.

She then walked up to the hatch that closed and tried opening it but it wouldn't. Something held it down or something sealed it on the other side. Luckily there was another ladder she could go up to a different but open hatch.

Before entering, she threw a tripmine grenade up there, sticking on the walls of the room inside. Whatever that was up there seemed to take the bait, unaware of what the grenade actually was, and an unholy shriek sounded out as what sounded like a limb was blown off. Summer took the opportunity to unleash Young Wolf's Howl, and blink right up the hatch.

The sight nearly made her flinch. She saw a giant spider grimm just hanging up on the ceiling, its beady, crimson-red eyes staring straight back into her silver night within the confines of her helmet. The beast's legs were made of crystal, with them dug into the walls, and its spider-like abdomen had eyes of its own, hanging a massive stream of tendrils out of as it was opened up like a flower petal, holding the bodies of what seemed to be hundreds of skeletons, stripped clean of whatever they had left on their bodies.

As soon as the best tried to move the tendrils at her, Summer instinctively used the rest of her blinks to move all the way up to it, and cut the abdomen off, rendering the beast's tendrils useless as they all fell to the ground, causing dark smoke to fill the room as the beast cried out from the sudden shock and fiery agony. It didn't get a chance to recover either, as the house-sized beast was quickly hit by Summer following up by running on it, and slamming the sword into its head, destroying the weak armor plating it had there instantly and causing it to fall to the ground.

Drei quickly reviewed the battle footage to grasp an understanding of what they just faced. "Mutated grimm. It was affected by the darkness, and some other material nothing on Remnant has information about, aside from Prometheus's encounter with the corrupted grimm in Mt. Glenn. Not anything familiar beyond the Kraken and the Jorogumo grimm. Krakumo perhaps? Whatever it is, it's dead."

Summer couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "You're awfully calm about the both of us nearly dying there."

"At this rate, near constant death is a regular around you. And yes, it actually is very terrifying still, I just can't vocalize it now, because I'm now in levels of primal fear in my rotors cease to move now. Makes me wonder why I didn't try to push you into being like every hunter ever."

"I guess you could say, you're scared white as a ghost?" Summer couldn't help but giggle at the jab she made, as Drei groaned.

"Let's just keep moving. There's bound to be more of them, and we can't fight them all at once."

True to his word, it sounded like more spiders were making their way to their fallen ally through the vents. Summer quickly exited, and in her hasty escape got caught by one of the still alive soldiers she hadn't even noticed were in the mass of tendrils that carried the three from earlier away. Before she could even react, her mouth was cupped, and the soldier immediately whispered.

"Quiet!"

Their desperation wasn't hidden in the slightest then carried her away into a large crate, before jumping there with her. Within a few seconds, she could hear the sound of what must've been hundreds of footsteps passing them by, with some even jumping on top of the crate, as a chorus of mangled, human screams making themselves known. Summer saw the soldier was holding his breath, seemingly terrified by what was up there, while she remained impassive, her own breath not even being audible to even the soldier. She calmly pulled out Thorn once the horde of grimm she was hearing were gone.

"Who are you? If you're thinking about doing anything to me..." She calmly aimed Thorn at his crotch. "You should've waited out there."

"That's honestly the best way to keep it from getting eaten the wrong kind of way." The soldier casually replied back as he pushed Thorn back, only causing Summer to readjust her aim. "Look, I'm dead serious here, that actually would be the preferable alternative. What you just heard? Those were the shadow people."

00000

**Omake:To Spawn Kill A God**

"I'm sorry, what's the Necrochasm?"

Summer stared at her two teammates as they sat around the Iron Temple lookout point with Frederick. Barloc himself looked baffled by how someone like her didn't know about it, while Pyrrha looked to Barloc, already expecting a thorough explanation. "What do you mean 'what's the Necrochasm'? It's the legendary exotic weapon that struck fear in over thousands of guardians! It tore through shields and flesh from many ranges, like a sword both from afar and in person!"

Summer shook her head. "No, I never heard about that. Then again, I didn't really delve into books much."

Barloc facepalmed. "Of course you wouldn't know, why didn't I think that…" He then clears his throat. "Well, it's why I wanted to relay to you that Shin found that weapon in the hands of the Shadows. You might've faced off against it at some point in Remnant if I recall. Attacked by one of their members, who were they called again… Dredgen Pena?"

Summer couldn't help but giggle-snort at that, while Pyrrha just outright laughed. Barloc remained clueless as to what he did. "What? Is that not the name? I know it probably isn't right, but if it is, they should've called themselves 'Peanut'. What even is Pena?"

Frederick took the datapad from Barloc and double-checked it. "Dude… it's Vena, not 'Pena'."

"But that's what it looks like." When the two kept laughing in response, Barloc merely sighed in annoyance. The two waited in silence for the two in front of them to regain their composure, as Summer eventually got up from the ground as she finished laughing, while Pyrrha finished clutching her sides.

"...Anyhoo," Summer started off. "I guess I'll need to keep my streak going by hunting her down. I can't have another guardian getting an exotic before me after all. Plus it'd probably be easier to handle than Oryx here."

_**I heard that!**_

_Shuddup._

"Actually, you might not have to." Barloc interjected in a voice screaming 'warlock ego inbound'. "If you read up correctly, you find that Necrochasm was made off a mere sliver of Crota's power, with only the frame of the weapon needing to be fed."

It was then that Drei appeared to object in response. "I don't think that's right. Nothing of the sort is in the Vanguard data libraries."

It was then Barloc tsked in unison with Frederick, with the end result being both of them stopping to look at each other. However Frederick did seem a bit concerned that Summer would want the dark weapon given the state she's in with Thorn, yet outright rejected Touch of Malice.

"...If you were around during the dark ages,"

"Or you read into the locked files of the Vanguard database before they were locked away..."

"You would find that a lot of these frames are most commonly found amongst Hive swordbearers, as these weapons tend to be vessels for the gatekeepers of Crota himself."

"On the contrary, the last report found in the database stated that these weapons could be found in all manner of Hive locations, wielders, and even the stomachs of some ogres."

"Not scientifically possible. Either the ogre wouldn't last the gun, or the gun wouldn't last the ogre's digestive systems. The bladed edges of these infantile weapons can still cut through the organs, even if it doesn't do so very well."

"Oh really then? Well, I wouldn't suppose you'd know that the weapon needs to be upgraded by light."

"Preposterous. The weapon must experience a trial by fire via killing tons of Hive entities. Only then will it grow to the form necessary to begin the final step of conversion." Barloc crossed his arms. "I get you're ignorant of the Hive's inner workings, but do know their culture revolves around pain."

"Oh, I know that." Frederick smiled underneath the helmet. "Enough to know that in order to complete the step, you have to kill a Hive demi-god or god."

"Preposterous!" Barloc refuted the idea. "Only a sliver of his power is needed to cause the weapon to finish growing. If such were the case, Crota would be long since dead before Summer came around, as Necrochasm simply requires the essence of several powerful Hive warriors and liches."

"So you really think that, huh?"

"A warlock's intelligence always outweighs you titans."

"ARGH! This weapon sucks!"

The heated conversation was interrupted by a guardian throwing a weird looking Hive weapon into their little hangout area, with it bouncing straight into Frederick's groin. Frederick simply took a sharp intake of air, looked at Barloc. "Excuse me for one second." And then proceeded to sprint like a bullet to the offender while wreathed in arc energy.

"I can't even hit anything with this thing! It's got too much knockba-" Before the guardian could finish his sentence, he was yeet'd into orbit by Frederick. Frederick only took one look at his co-conspirator, before that person just straight up threw himself off the mountain.

Barloc himself chuckled at the titan's misfortune, before he himself got bonked by another Hive-like weapon. He looked up to see a bunch of partying guardians at the peak of the mountain, and growled to himself, before proceeding to climb the mountain, practically running up the mountain on all fours using nothing but the charged up sword he had in hand. A series of shrieks was then heard, before six mangled guardians fell into the pit of flames in the center of the Iron Temple, complete with ghosts having been thrown down into the snow. Barloc then jumped from above gracefully without a sound, somehow never hurting his bones

As a bemused Saladin checked to see where the guardians fell down from, and an annoyed Shiro-4 went to talk to Frederick, Pyrrha and Summer inspected the weapons. Barloc himself only took a glance, before saying aloud to them both. "Well, it seems like we've got a couple test subjects for our theories already."

"These are the frames?" Drei said as he scanned them, before he seemed to shiver. "Ugh… they sure seem like Hive."

Summer picked up one of the weapons, test firing it by firing it into the sky. She felt a shiver run down her spine.

"That's because they are; though they are but mere husks of what they're to be." Barloc then cleared his throat. "How about you get to feeding them both? See what makes them tick. Should be plenty of Hive hiding around the cosmodrome after all."

"In my honest opinion we should just destroy these frames." Frederick stated as he came back in, rolling his throwing arm's shoulder as he used it a bit too hard that time.

"I think both of your theories are just big ol' conspiracies." Drei said simply. "How about you Sum-"

Summer had just hijacked someone's ship, and was hovering next to them. Before anyone could even make a move, Summer blinked out, grabbed Drei and Pyrrha, blinked back in, and left, leaving a swarm of white petals in her wake.

Barloc blinked owlishly in surprise at seeing three blinks. Frederick took a look at the swarm, before looking to Barloc. "Did I miss something there?"

"No. No you didn't. Just didn't expect such aptitude from a hunter on a warlock skill." Barloc then cleared his throat. "We must prepare for when they inevitably get both guns raised into their next form. I assume Eris would be of some actual use here?"

"I suppose we should get into the ship then, o master of the arcane?"

"Indeed we should, my crayon-eating, bubble-popping, titan friend."

Both proceeded to laugh. Then compete to laugh harder than the other, eventually getting to the point where both sides sounded psychotic.

It was on that day, Saladin had to exercise his power over the Mountain.

00000

Much grinding later...

00000

A team of four trained warlocks, a man dressed as a warlock, an odd titan, the mistral champion, and huntress turned guardian stood before the giant crystal in Crota's ascendant realm, which was charged with Crota's soul. Over thousands of light motes were being poured into the crystal by Barloc, who kept the flow of motes being dumped aimed straight at the crystal. All the while, Pyrrha looked confused. "Why are we resurrecting Crota if he's killed over thousands of guardians? ...Like, who in their right mind does this?"

_**I do not understand these fools' goals, nor why you are even attempting to do this. What has been done is done. The sword logic is irreversible once a Hive is killed in their ascendant realm. Omnigul would have to draw more than just the sliver of his essence.**_

_I want my Necro. No one else shall get Necro before me._

"Because you mortal fool, the Hive, when properly digesting or diluting it in the right manner, can also grow stronger or power their own rituals and machinations using it. As to why we are doing this?"

"Cause of gun." Summer said as she drooled on her Eidolon Ally, to which it shivered at her. "I want gun."

"I was going to say science, and showing this so-called 'Hive Prince' how badly his stronghold is designed, but yes! For a gun!"

"Eris would be screaming at us for this." Frederick muttered in distaste. "As well as my wife…"

"Shh!" Barloc shushed everyone in the room, noticing something about the crystal. "...It's happening, warlocks, positions!"

"You heard him guys," Frederick said to the warlocks. "Get to the knight towers! This place is going to swarm with Hive eager to see their master again!"

The warlocks quickly made their way to the towers, as the crystal glowed brightly. In a few moments, the Oversoul pulsed with newfound life, and once more the shattered stonework of the Hive went up into the air, eventually forming the familiar horns below the oversoul, before eventually Crota's was summoned once more. He gazed out, bewildered at the sight before him.

_**What.**_

_**"...What."**_

"Titan." Barloc clapped his hands, and Frederick grunted in annoyance. He let Barloc get on his back, and Frederick jumped onto one of the two pillars in front of Crota, who stared in bewilderment. Frederick then popped a ward of dawn, and Barloc got off to look Crota in the eye. "Alright hope eater, I have a few words to say to you."

Crota blinked.

And then smiled._** "Well of course. It would be perfectly fine to hear what a foolish worm such as you would have to say. I could spare the time since you resurrected me in my full power."**_

"This was at his full power?!"

"Shush." Barloc quickly hushed Frederick, before once more looking at Crota. "First off, your defenses are the equivalent of a kinderguardian!" Barloc practically shouted at the top of his lungs, causing Frederick to flinch.

Crota blinked once more, surprised at the volume of such a tiny thing._** "****_I_ beg your pardon?"**_

"I could understand the bridge section. It was clever, it forced a full team to be here. But why in the Traveler did you ever think leaving these lamps of light around The Stills is beyond me. Hell, taking into account complete physical fitness, and nothing to slow one down besides your pathetic usage of neutrino shrouding, you wouldn't even need them!" Barloc began to thoroughly rebuke the Hive Prince that had slain thousands of guardians. "And the hallway filled with nothing but thralls with a bunch of tombstones to jump on in order to avoid them!? Were you purposely giving guardians an easy chance at coming to your Deathsinger, of whom had equally worse defenses?"

_**"The deathsinger had perfectly fine defenses. I had two shriekers that powered-"**_

"A closed shrieker can be destroyed by a simple nova bomb you imbecile!" Barloc drawled out the last word, causing Crota to growl. "A titan's fully charged arc fist even! Ir Yut could've been exposed in less than 10 seconds, and then where'd she be? Dead! And this is not even mentioning how incredibly easy you made it for your own army to backstab you, of which I shall now demonstrate."

Four knights holding arc blasters then came out of the towers, and looked to the ward. Before they could do much, they were then turned around by the four warlocks, who twisted their minds to make them shoot Crota instead. Crota hissed in pain as he was shot at by his own allies.

_**"FOOLS! What are you doing?!"**_

"What they should've done the moment you left them out of reach!" Barloc once more admonished the god, before patting Frederick on the shoulder. Frederick then put Barloc back at the crystal, and went back outside to the still struggling Crota. Crota couldn't really shoot the knights back with arc shots or stab them, as the design of his own minions' defenses worked against him rather easily, eventually causing him to stumble onto his knees. It was then he saw Summer jumped down and practically annihilated a swordbearer, before jumping up to Crota with murderous glee, slicing him to bits in 4 seconds without him being aware of her presence.

Once the knights were brought back to reality, they suddenly realized what they had done. And all Hive, including Oryx himself within the confines of Summer's mind, stood silent at what just happened.

Summer looked at her newfound Necrochasm, having taken the regenerated essence into the weapon and made it brim with pure Hive power. "Mine."

_**...I'm the worst father ever.**_

Barloc inspected Summer's Necrochasm, before reading Summer's energy levels for traces of Crota's soul again. "...Hm. Seems we were both half right and half wrong."

"Well, that was… something. And here I thought we'd be in trouble." Frederick said, still stunned at what happened.

"Such a shame though." He looked at the spot at where Crota once was. "We never even got the chance to see his Oversoul. I wonder if the best shotgun could-" Barloc then proceeded to prattle on about the many possible ways a guardian could destroy the oversoul without being a specific class.

It was then that the sound of hundreds of footsteps were being heard in the distance. Frederick seemed to pause for a moment, before nudging Barloc, who snapped out of his tirade to glare at Frederick in annoyance. Frederick motioned to the hundreds of guardians that were practically pooling out of the doorway at the bottom of Crota's throne room.

"Free shards boys!"

"Screw the rules, I want my first exotic!"

"Oi Crota! Ever had a sword shoved up where the sun doesn't shine?"

Summer had to deal with Oryx's depression for the rest of her time in the Plaguelands, as Crota continued to be brutally murdered by over hundreds of thousands more of guardians for the eons to come, all of whom were eager for their own Necrochasm replica. It was said that with each death cry, especially when the guardians figured out how to turn Necrochasm into one of his swords, Oryx sank deeper into his depression. And it was then, a Vanguard rule, though unlikely, was made.

117\. Crota is no longer allowed to be resurrected. Any guardians attempting to resurrect Crota again will be perma-banned from this plane of existence.

00000

**Hadn't done these in a while, so lets get into it.**

Miniatimat:Nice chapter, but things are getting hard to follow with so many characters...

D**iluation:Some of them are setups for the later parts, such as when we finally move to Red War in the sequel. Characters that appear once during a chapter you don't need to worry about, if you're wondering if they ever appear again.**

**Hopefully that helps you track things better. And I know some of you might be wondering about Nero, given how little of them are in this… we can promise you they're gonna be raiding with Summer for this. White Fang just don't cut it for immortal guardians that slay armies for breakfast.**

Gabe2000:You and Ptabs0101 made some excellent work. Have a pineapple. Also, any plans involving a Russian titan?

**Diluation:We've thought about how to catch up to the later seasons given the circumstances. The best thing I could say of now, is that Season of Dawn and Curse Of Osiris shall be combined. Why? No reason…**

**Also, thanks for the Pineapple, we shall treasure in a place of honor! If you're interested in seeing our other work, search up our names on the site, those of which being ANIMEAK116, Dustinz117, Aquilos, and of course me, Diluation. With the exception of me and Aquilos, those two put their own tie-ins in, and being part of the team we are also working on making sure everything is up to date. We've also got fanfics of our own that, while not related to this, are definitely worth a read as we try to put a fair amount of effort into them.**

**Keyword being try, as I hadn't updated my first story ever since picking this up, though I ended up going off to others.**

**Welp, that's about all we got… actually, one more thing:One of you came forth with a story idea not related to this fanfic or what we might plan on doing after. While I shall respectfully keep their name private, I must remind you that this account is solely a shared domain in which we work to update this fanfic and whatever sequels we can find time to construct. Which means we wouldn't accept them, and it would be better to at least ask for feedback on your ideas instead of having us do them.**

**That's all I gotta say for now. Until the next time, guardians!**

_**~ In memory of Ptabs0101 ~**_


	25. A Grimm Outlook

"So, what are those things Titor? The shadow people?" Summer asked as they walked the silent hallways, as the soldier scavenged about, grabbing supplies as they went. He held a flashlight of his own as he had hurriedly warned Drei to not come out into the open.

"Not a goddamn clue. One moment, we were dealing with the usual Grimm, next thing we know we get attacked by those damn things." The battered soldier said as they walked through the corridors. "Infectious buggers they are. The dead are the same. Only way to keep Remnant from having their own outbreak is to blow this ship up. Thankfully, we have you to initiate the blast, so we don't get casualties."

"_Should we tell them about the soldiers over in the med bay?"_

"_I think it's best that we leave this to Cayde and the others. Besides, we don't know what lengths these people will go to. This might be curable."_

"For someone all of Remnant has considered to be quite chatty, you're awfully silent." Titor couldn't help but remark.

"Just thinking things over." Summer replied back as to not look suspicious. "Is there a group of survivors that we need to evacuate?"

"About a tenth- of the remaining crew stayed on the ship, with only half of us having escaped. Some of them ghostless guardians, some just regular mortals." Titor said as he looked around cautiously. "The rest are either dead or missing. Won't be surprised if the latter just outright abandoned us. I would've. Little to no chance of escaping here alive without wiping out every single grimm."

They then came to a vent, of which automatically opened up for them. The soldier motioned to it.

"You're not coming?"

"I have to search for supplies, food and whatnot to keep everyone going. You'd be better off meeting Cordovin than sticking with me." The soldier then walked away, rifle aimed at the dark as he went within. "Though let's be honest… this is probably the last time you'll see me."

A beat passed by as a dreadful silence hung in the air. "You know, I think it'd be best to look on the bright side of things."

Titor chuckled. "Just send your ghost out first and have him give the message. The others should lead you. And one last thing? ...Let my daughter know that blind sacrifice isn't the way to go. Can't believe I let her mother's tendencies to refuse help get to her like that."

It was then that Titor disappeared into the dark, leaving Summer all alone. Following the man's instructions, she let her ghost go first into the vent. After hearing some surprised yelps on the other side, along with the barest hint of conversation, Drei came back through. "They're expecting you."

Summer then crept through the vents, being careful as to not make too much noise. Once on the other side, she saw what seemed to be a large room full of soldiers seemed to be on their rope's end, some of them only laying on the ground in wait of death. Commander Cordovin turned to look at her after finishing talking to a couple soldiers, eyes stone cold as she seemed to have been up for several nights. At first, Cordovin drew her gun at her, but hesitated, quickly proceeding to stop. "No. You're not that decoy that got on here. The ghost just came through after all."

"Cordovin I believe?" Summer asked, walking right up to her. Thankfully, Summer was only just taller than the woman. Just. "What exactly happened here?"

"You saw it yourself, sunshine." Cordovin said without a shred of remorse. "Everyone's dead down here. At this point, either we go out with passion, or by some miracle find a way to escape. The rest of the details as to how it all started oughta be spared."

Summer scratched her chin in thought as she looked over the crowd. The few that bothered to notice her seemed to have a small glimmer of hope left inside of their own eyes. Some had even prepped their rifles in belief that their final stand could finally be made. She brought her focus back to Cordovin. "This place has a mess hall, right?"

Caroline raised an eyebrow. "Yes? Why precisely do you-"

00000

"-think this is going to work." Cordovin flatly asked, as Summer had brought a plethora of fridges to accommodate the remaining crew of soldiers that were left.

"I saw it in a movie." Summer said as she had Drei transmat the last fridge they built off the previous one using parts of the ship. "Line them all up with a bunch of lead and you should be safe from the fallout. It'll be a tight fit, but the little room to move should prevent everybody inside them from getting hurt too bad. We should be able to have some lying around here."

The soldiers seemed to be in disbelief at the idea. Some seemed to even take to the notion out of desperation, trying to see who can fit with who perfectly inside the fridges.

Cordovin didn't seem to be amused by the idea. "Brothers, you're truly as insane as the reports say of you."

"So I'm told." Summer said as she put her hand on a fridge. "Now, about blowing this place up?"

It was then the soldiers around them suddenly seemed to be reminded of their mission. They looked between one another nervously.

"Sweet Oum, how are we supposed to deal with that… that thing?" One of the soldiers said as the crew began to mutter.

"Screw the Doom Psyche, you actually think we have enough ammo to kill off a whole damn ship worth of zombies?!" Another hissed out in anger. "Who in their right mind thinks they can take out a damn army, much less one as relentless as these guys?"

"There's that damn nickname you made it for the bloody thing!" Another hissed back. "Leave it to the officials already you damn maniac!"

"Officials?" The soldier laughed back, almost as if delirious. "In case you hadn't noticed bub, no one has power here anymore. It's all about-"

It was then that Cordovin stomped, catching everyone's attention. The room grew still as tension ran high, the infighting that was about to happen stopping instantly. She looked throughout the room, giving everyone a stern glare as she walked towards the soldiers.

"Our comms to General Ironwood may be cut off." Cordovin said as she eyed up the soldier from earlier. "But make no mistake. I am leading this rag tag group we have out of here. And brothers damnit, we are THIS close to leaving this ship alive. THIS close to us all barely scraping past death's grasp."

She then pulled the soldier down to her height by his chin. "And so help me, if any of you start up some shit during this last chance of escape we may have, I will personally give you a boot back into reality, and it will be oh-so painful because it's going up the worst imaginable spot anyone could have. Do I make this clear to every single one of you, particularly you Pvt. Pedro?"

The soldiers frantically nodded. Pvt. Pedro seemed to be irritated with the little girl before him instantly wrenching back control with such ease.

"Good, because I myself am seriously too FUBAR to deal with your shit today. Especially considering I've had to deal with you maggots this whole week praying to a god that I'll never be desperate enough to answer to." Cordovin then let go of the soldier. "I want everyone to grab their weapons, pipes, knives, guns, whatever the hell you got. We've got a live guardian here, one of the best even, and we're not just going to sit by and do nothing about keeping the shades at bay or completely ignoring that leader hiding up in the control room. Summer, I need to discuss the battle plan with you, stat."

"Nice whipping them back into line." Summer whistled as they watched the soldiers get to work.

"As a wise man once said, the smaller people are the ones you need to worry about more than the bigger people." Caroline watched one of them stumble in haste to get ready. "Once your will is exerted, even the biggest, baddest soldier of them all will learn to not screw with you. And I'm sure your own guardian friends have learned that too."

Summer couldn't help but nod in agreement. "You know what? I think we'll have quite a lot of fun getting out here."

"Fun's a secondary objective." Cordovin waved her off as she pulled out a rough map of the ship's layout from some boxes, laying it on the table. She then went back to dig in some more. "Survival's the primary issue for us all right now when we can't even sleep peacefully."

"A real _party crasher to the next degree _aren't you?" Summer pouted at how unfriendly the short woman was.

"Heh," Caroline couldn't help but chuckle. "I guess the same could be said when they busted down that hatch. Lucky I managed to slip out through a vent when I tried to blow up the fuel. Too many bastards there already. Amazed how many engineers took shelter there."

She then pulled out a pair of gauntlets from the boxes. "A warlock on the ship made these in an attempt to help a hunter replicate a 'way of a thousand cuts' super without requiring the energy. Couldn't throw a knife to save his life, literally so." Cordovin then tossed it to Summer who managed to hold onto them both safely with one arm. "Think you could make some use of this sunshine?"

Summer looked it over for a few moments, before opening up her free palm. Drei then appeared and scanned the gauntlets. "Creator didn't get the chance to write their name on this, but the name of this piece is called 'Bloom of Doom'. Design seems to be similar to the Obsidian Mind, meaning it's the same person who made that, made this too. From what my scans are returning to me, this gauntlet's true power heavily relies on someone who never missed a knife throw before, as when you insert a knife into it, it somehow manipulates space-time to spontaneously produce…" Drei then looked to Summer, as she inserted a light-made knife into it. With moments, both gauntlets produced ten knives of the exact same shape and material, launching out of the gauntlet and getting stuck in the ceiling.

"Well, given the name I think this would more be a gift for you than some warlock trying to keep to his books." Drei couldn't help but comment. "Not like the guy has much other use for this. It's also compatible with your Bladedancer techniques."

Summer smiled a smile so unnerving, Caroline couldn't help but be impressed as she watched ideas flow through the guardian's mind. "Looks like I awakened a monster. Good. We'll need that for the rescue mission."

00000

Frederick opened his eyes to a red forest with leaves. Seemingly unphased by his new surroundings. However his eyes turned to see pure black figures with red insides in hordes going to an odd location. He pulls out his sword and rushed the hordes. The fire from it engulfed him and his light was brightened to a greater degree. Some of the hordes looked at him. The figures who once had indescribable looks of bloodlust and hatred, now seemed to have a sliver of fear inside of their empty, red hollowed insides.

He slammed his sword into one and forced his light to expand causing many to fall as they try to snuff him out. He then pulled his sword, and using long strikes he cleaved them in half. That is till a small portion of them morphed to a large egg sack like creature with thick tendrils as arms like that of a squid. The rest of the creatures ignored their titanic grimm before them and continued to where the gunfire was at.

"_**You think your light can save these rats from turning. But you forget the chaos that is the dark will overshadow the light." **_

"That's where you're wrong, demon. It's because of your shrouding everything in darkness that my light will shine brighter!" Frederick stated as he chanted in the an old language of man and his body grew brighter in a blaze of light.

"_**What is this power!?**_"

"Simple. The light that will erase you from existence!"

"_**Bah… most unexpected. A mere annoyance at most. I will have to see how you got the Gardener's light in this empty box."**_

All the while lifting his sword and with great speed he flew past the Juggernaut of a grim. His wings stopped beating as he then stood up and looked at the falling black demon.

"My Light is not from the Gardener." Frederick replied as he then jumped up high and his wings flapped and carried him away to the gun fire.

"_**Your righteous fury will be your end… this I can assure." **_The dissolving grimm said, as it dissipated. Frederick looked around, making sure there was no traces of darkness left, before seeing a ship off in the distance.

And then everything came back to reality.

He stood in the middle of the room. The one before him finally entered a peaceful rest that was well deserved, as many continued to babble and scream in irrational fear and panic. After a moment of observation on many personnel's part, the chief walked up to the titan.

"What the hell was that you just do?"

"I ruptured the psychic connection a being of darkness held on them." Frederick said as he stood up. "Though it's not for long. It's bound to come back."

"Dammit! We can't have viable soldiers at this rate." The chief sighed as Frederick walked past him. "Would you be able to figure out how long-"

"Grab some of the best men you got." Frederick said with a tone of finality being evident in his voice, as he readied up a shotgun. "That'll solve all their issues for good. It's the only option."

The man paused, as if uncertain about the course of action. "I can have an aerial strike force ready if needed. Do you even know where-"

"That'll be all I'll need. Make sure they're ready for action when I call it in case the situation gets ugly."

00000

(Play Noisescream - The Doom Party)

Thousands of dead skulked about the hangar bay area of the massive ship, groans and moans of frustration making themselves known as they wandered about the closed off area aimlessly Some gnawed at the bones of already dead bodies, while others simply attacked the walls in a attempt to get out. Above them was another Krakumo, who simply hung from above watching the area closely for any signs of life. Its mandibles clicked in annoyance at having nothing to do for such a long time, and thus decided to idly toy with one of the lone turned down below, letting forth a tendril to dangle in front of the shade and agitating it. The shade relentlessly tried to attack the tendril, though found little to no chance in ever touching it. Unbeknownst to both, it unknowingly opened the way for a survivor to sneak over into another room, allowing the soldier to press on into a kitchen in search of food.

The soldier had to pause at the lack of fridge and mess on the floor, before proceeding to try and take whatever was edible back. He looked out to see that the Krakumo was still toying with one of its underlings, and tried to walk back out into his hiding spot. Unfortunately for him, the spider-squid's gaze suddenly shifted, and then proceeded to jolt the tentacle to the soldier in an attempt to grab him, stabbing him in the chest and causing him to cry out in pain as he was wrapped up and brought to the spider. The whole shadow horde instantly began clamoring to try and devour the soldier, getting on top of each other as the spider pulled in the soldier close to it, seemingly debating on whether or not it should kill the soldier.

"If you're going to do it, do it scumbag." The soldier practically spat at the grimm, as he closed his eyes in wait for death. The spider didn't take kindly to it, and opened its mandibles to be the head of the soldier off.

That was until an explosion rang out, and a knife flew through the air.

The soldier's eyes flew open as he felt himself suddenly falling. Instincts kicking in, he turned himself around mid-air to fall in a proper position, and also allowing himself to see his savior. He watched in awe as the guardian seemingly threw an endless cascade of knives at the horde below him, all landing straight into their heads with such deadly grace, he couldn't help but wonder about the strength of guardians if they really pushed themselves.

The horde didn't just stand around, though. Sensing an interruption to their meal, they turned around to the explosion and instantly started rushing down the guardian, before being shot down by a hailstorm of bullets and knives that rose to meet the fury of the horde. The soldier watched as the guardian then jumped up into the air, with clawed gloves that crackled with arc destruction, and like a bolt of lightning charged at the Krakumo, which was unprepared for the sudden attack. The guardian ripped the giant grimm in seconds, before landing back down on the ground as the body of another Hivemind monster fell once more.

The soldier coughed up some blood before laughing, the tendril still inside him. "Looks like this is where it's at then.

"Secure the area!" Cordovin ordered as she held a pair of SMGs, before casually walking up to the soldier. "Get ready for the bloody shadows to start rushing us all down too. Place will be swarming in a matter of seconds, and in the name of the General, turn that damn music off Summer!"

"Ok, you can't deny that this actually-"

"OFF. NOW."

Summer then turned off the music with an annoyed grumble, and Cordovin then looked down at the soldier with a stoic scowl on her face. "I told you it was a bad idea."

"Thanks for telling me that with the giant tentacle in my chest. How about-"

Cordovin coldly shot him in the head before moving on. "Someone also collect that dog tag, I don't have time for this."

The soldiers shouted out confirmation as one of them took the tag, storing it in their pocket. They then began to set up defenses. Cordovin then walked behind Summer, as if following her. Summer looked behind her as she swapped to Thorn, looking Cordovin in the eyes.

"You're coming with me?"

"I didn't blow the ship yet." Caroline said as she checked the mag's ammo. "I'm coming to finish the fight. Besides, I have the access codes, and the comms array is offline. You can't call your guardian buddies to blow up a ship this large without wasting even more time."

"Time isn't on your side." Summer shot back, as she opened a door before swiftly throwing a grenade, blasting a whole horde of shadow people into ashes.

"And it isn't on yours either." Cordovin said as she rolled into the hallway, firing at another spider that was hanging above them, shooting its eyes out with pin-point accuracy. "Recall your daughter and the mission in the Plaguelands?"

"Got me there." Summer said as she blinked up once more, decapitating the abdomen of the extra spider hiding in the hallway.

"Daughters if you're counting Raven's own, of course." Caroline couldn't help but comment. "She did a damn fine job while you were gone. Mostly anyways."

Summer turned to look at Caroline.

"She let her make the mistake of following in your footsteps. And considering where you are now, and what I heard from the other guardians?" Caroline couldn't help but shudder. "Your Traveler better help us all if we have two of you with ghosts."

"Ruby doesn't share my sense of humor. _Tibia_ little honest, it's quite unnerving how Yang has that side of me."

Cordovin growled in annoyance.

"Oh come on, that was a knee-slapper!" Summer laughed as she blew up another door.

"I retract my statement about getting along. I hate you already." Cordovin said as she reloaded the SMGs.

The two then made haste to the fuel room, shooting and slicing through the shadow people and Krakumos until they finally made it to the area. Caroline didn't so much as hesitate as she immediately started placing explosives down, only to soon realize that Drei was placing them faster than she ever could. She looked at the robot with a mix of irritation and awe.

"Huh. I know we'd be replaced by you robots eventually, but I didn't think they'd be so small." Cordovin couldn't help but comment, as she gazed at the ghost.

"I'll have you know, I'm working on getting a bigger chassis." Drei huffed. "Then I'll be bigger than you."

Caroline whistled. "Sounds like your little light has quite big dreams."

"He's pretty bright, but not the sharpest tool in the shed, I'll admit."

"You are depressing and a mood killer." Drei said to Caroline, before turning to Summer. "And you are as annoying as ever, but at least you somewhat acknowledge my programming."

"I'll have to ask about that later." Caroline said. "Now we just have to-"

Suddenly, the room shook violently, causing Summer and Caroline to slip onto the floor. In which immediately after, the floor broke apart, causing them to fall into a dark, inky abyss. Summer managed to grab onto Caroline and hover for a bit, but whatever was below had other plans for them, as the darkness itself seemed to grab at them, tendrils of black pulling them in and binding them from moving. Summer felt her light being tugged at, as if some kind of suppressant was put upon it, as they were dragged away. Caroline fired at the dark blindly, still holding onto her SMGs as the muzzle flash was the only thing keeping her visible, until eventually the light from even those disappeared.

"_**So. The bane of the grimm itself finally has returned. And from beyond the mortal coil nonetheless."**_

"Who the hell are you?!" Cordovin yelled out. "I swear, if I die like this, I'll come back from hell itself to tear you apart!"

"_**I? I am the alpha of all grimm. Created by mother herself, and given even more power to serve masters I care not for. Especially when they haven't done what mother has.**_"

"You mean Salem?" Summer asked, as she struggled fruitlessly.

"Get on with it you damn freak!" Cordovin ruthlessly said. "I have little care for your talk when I have nothing of my life left to spend!"

"_**As amusing as the idea is, I recognize that engaging in battle like this is fruitless. Especially since I have not located the roots of the White Rose now, even as I heard it talking in the room I found you in." **_The mysterious voice said, as it came out of the shadows, revealing itself. Like the Krakumo before it, it bore a very similar resemblance to them, except it was more kraken than it was spider. It looked to be a fifth of the ship's overall size, as the insides of its mouth glowed red with white, shark-like teeth, eyes glowing even brighter. It then pulled Cardovine closer as if to inspect her. "_**This one is of flesh and blind loyalty to an old world.**_"

It then pulled Summer closer to inspect her as its tentacle moved around her helmet. "_**This one is of youth, hypocrisy and darkness. You love your power, and your soul craves the Dynasty's lost throne. A Lost soul in need of guidance. Yet so less the warrior you pretend to be.**_"

"You should brush your teeth more often." Summer said as she turned her nose. "You stink."

"We're facing a demon that could swallow us whole, and that's all you have to say?!" Caroline shouted out. "What the hell is it with you guardians?!"

The grimm didn't seem to mind the small insult. Instead, it just took Order's Mask off her face to look at her. "_**Delicious… a mask that I had long since expected to see. I knew that one day, I would see the face mother would never see behind it all.**_" It seemed to accurately read Summer's expression, as it could tell Summer felt slightly nervous about the position she was held in.

"I'm just not one to get stuffed into a gore hole, sorry. Maybe Uldren." Summer casually replied back. "So, why aren't you just immediately killing us and getting on with it?"

"_**Mother has grown soft. She decided to toy with prey instead of finishing things off immediately afterwards. Victory in her grasp." **_The beast hissed in distaste. "_**The grimm need a new leader. And with the unwitting assistance of her foolish captors, I shall be that. But first, I must get both you and the interloper out of the way. So… I propose a deal."**_

"Interloper?" Cordovin thought to herself. "The only one who's entered this ship was you. And the warlocks said there's no possible way a hunter could learn how to bend one's mind."

"...You want Frederick, don't you?" Summer said as she began to figure things out, narrowing her eyes in response. "The soldiers back at the med bay were suffering cause of you. And Frederick is there."

"_**A nuisance he is. But prey who's light is powerful." **_The beast held out a sword. A sword with such familiarity, that memories instantly came flooding back to Summer, and her silver eyes shone with recognition. "_**The shadows tasked me with killing you with this little trinket, forcing me to be a plant on this ship to lure you forth. Yet your death is inconsequential without your ghost taken care of. This other guardian will be bound to have his own close to him. This I know from the few I've taken into, what you call 'the shadow people'. I can tell by his final death alone, the other ancient grimm will come to respect me. And we may have a chance at salvation."**_

"_**I give you a choice, White Rose. A trinket as a bonus for whatever you choose." **_The beast dangled Cordovin and the sword in front of her. "_**One for all, or all for one... And I'm certain that your altruism as a 'defender of the people', and your 'dogma', will choose the right one."**_

Cordovin spat at the monster. "Ha! As if there's any of us left down here anyhow. You oughta try aiming for a higher price, idiot!"

"Why not kill me when my ghost isn't here!? What more could you want with Frederick!?"

"_**Not even the few guardians here have shown such potential to easily disrupt my psychic connections." **_The beast reminded her. "_**Besides… I know your ghost is nearby, waiting for the right time to resurrect in safety. I just don't have the time or care to search for him."**_

The beast then dangled Cordovin in front of its maw. "_**Time is becoming short, Summer Rose. Make your decision. Or I shall make it for you."**_

Summer grit her teeth. She wanted to tear apart the monster right then and there. She wanted it to realize that it wasn't her time that was short, but couldn't help but feel as she listened to Caroline the familiar helplessness in the situation.

The helplessness of not being able to save everyone.

It was what she felt as she watched the fireteam who accepted her for what she was the most die to Crota and his armies, with no way to help them out of their final deaths. Memories vividly and voraciously recalled to her in a flood. A hunter with a curiosity about Hive worms, devoured by a pit of live Hive larvae. A titan who knocked her out of the way of several Ascendant Hive swords, before being chopped into pieces. A warlock who got too greedy. And the last two…

In spite of their rocky start, Summer saw much of the last two in Caroline Cordovin. A sassy hunter, and a cold, yet strong titan who was practically the backbone of everyone in the team, both of which lost their lives to Ir Yut as they rushed to take down her defenses.

As Caroline was about to be an inch away from the beast's gaping maw, all the while the small, frail woman constantly insulted and belittled the monster, she broke. "Fine. I'll do it."

_Frederick...Violet...Daisy… I'm sorry_.

"The hell are you doing?" Cordovin couldn't help but say in disbelief as she broke out of her rant towards the grimm, her voice taking on one of rage. "What in the actual hell are you doing right now?! I'm literally an old woman who doesn't have much time left, and even then I have to be protected by you pansy ass guardians!?"

"_**She has made a wise choice. For you, at the very least. As unlike you, I could sense you would live longer than even your 'top scientists' would've anticipated. Besides, I have no place for midgets in my army." **_The beast said, as he put Caroline away in some location that Summer couldn't see within the dark as she continued to curse at them both, before turning to Summer. "_**As for you… I will put you outside. He should be coming soon. Lure him as needed, or she and her crew shall join my flood, my legion of forgotten."**_

Light then burst into the room, as if a sudden light was turned on when the windows to the outside finally revealed themselves to Summer. The beast broke open one of them, and threw Summer outside of it, caring not for what happened to her. Thankfully for Summer, as soon as the beast's hold was rid of her, she felt her light finally being released, and was able to stand in the air. But now the situation had worsened by a dozen times more than it was needed to.

A hostage situation that can't be solved with bullets.

"_You do have a plan, right?"_ Drei whispered in the comms. "_I mean, it can't just be that you don't have any other workaround you could pull off with Frederick, right?"_

Summer looked at her hands as tears fell from her eyes. The mutated alpha grimm could sense that Summer's decision was wavering from its position, and shook the ship itself as a reminder of what it would do to Cordovin and her crew.

_**You need me right now, don't you? **_She watched as her tears began to turn black, falling to the ground as if the tears themselves were burning with newfound rage against her pride as a legendary hero being stabbed at. Her failure of not being the promised hero Ruby thinks of her as. _**You know this intolerable act cannot stand.**_

"I… I… I don't know what to do. If I don't… then everyone would die… if I do, then Frederick dies. And either way, putting a life instead of my own in front of me, something no guardian is supposed to do..." Summer said as she desperately searched for a solution, all the while trying to cope with the guilt of purposely putting a guardian's ghost on the line, that of a friend's nonetheless.

"_Come on now Summer! "We've had to deal with far worse! What about Crota? Or heck, even Oryx! We can't just let this hentai monster push us around! What if we just pop the golden Gjallarhorn and-"_

_**Lets face it. He knows that'll not be enough. You know that'll not be enough. We are the final shape. They are weak, undeserving of strength. Put this spoiled child to bed. End this rebel so much as attempting to leave a mark in your legacy. Your legacy of infinite strength, strongest even in mortality. It is simply by pure logic through the cutting of others that our powers were to be combined. Take my power! TAKE HIM AND HIS ARMIES!**_

"SHUT UP!" Summer screamed at everyone trying to speak to her. "Shut...up…" she said again slowly trying to make out any rational thought. Trying to think. But all she could do was let her tears fall. And she sulked away from the hole. Her tears burned away the armored steel of the deck as she walked away from the ship, Oryx still threatening to take over all the while.

00000

For what seemed like hours, she continued to move, watching the sky as she continued to keep on moving, paying close attention to radio channels for Frederick's ship. All while struggling to deal with both Drei and Oryx pushing her in opposite, yet similar directions.

It was impossible to get herself together. And she hoped it wasn't blatant when she heard Drei deliver the news she dreaded.

"_Frederick is coming. Just got a lock on his ship's radio signal." _Drei emotionlessly said. Though his tone wasn't without it, as it was that of a disappointed parent. "_Patching him in."_

"_Summer!? SUMMER!? Pick up dammit!" _Frederick stated over the Radio. "_I know what's causing all this! We got to blow this thing up with the engine's reactors!" _

"_It's dead." _Summer started to try and lie, attempting to keep her voice as calm as she can muster. "_I just came out of the control room. It has hostages that need a lift."_

Frederick raised an eyebrow. He then played back the words she said. And came to a realization.

"_Summer…. how does a grimm take hostages that need a lift…"_

"_I meant to say had hostages that now need a-" _She took a sharp intake of breath. "_Look, can you get into the ship's control room? I don't have a ship to pick them up with still y'know."_

_"Yeah...I can…" _Frederick replied. "_Though I have to ask… if there are still people alive in the ship, then why aren't they outside with you?"_

Summer stayed silent as she kept Order's Mask on.

"_Comms array is down inside...and I'm the only person on this ship that could stay safe and reach the outside_."

"_Then you should've been able to defuse the situation from the inside. A small army of grimm can't be anything for a guardian like you." _Frederick refuted as he came to a conclusion. "_Summer… be blunt with me here. The alpha grimm is inside the control center, isn't it? And it's got everyone basically at gunpoint."_

She stood silent at that for a long while.

"_Sum. If there's one thing you've always been bad at, it's lying to those closest to you." _Frederick said as his ship got in view. "_So, first things first, what's the plan? Do you already have the perfect turnabout all set up?"_

"_I don't have one set up…"_

"_Is it weak?"_

"_It suppressed my light with a single touch…"_

"_And so it just hoped I would've waltzed in there? ...Ok, I'll do that."_

"_Frederick-"_

"_If you promise to cheer up, that is." _Frederick clarified. "_Seriously, summers with a wet season stacked on top of them are the worst."_

"_...Was that a pun?"_

"_Don't ask for another."_

As the ship came into view, she saw the distant figure of Frederick get on top of his ship, having aimed it directly at the control room. "_Watch this Summer! For this is the most titan way to deal with a hostage situation! ...Well, for me anyway."_

Frederick did a frontflip off the front of his ship. Wreathed in a mix of pure arc energy and light, he grabbed the ship as it was moving, and putting all his muscle into it, threw the ship even harder as it activated its NSL Drive. Summer saw the beast reach out to grab the ship, only to suddenly realize it wasn't slowing down.

The resulting blast caused an earthquake.

She watched as the control room of the ship blew up, as well as Frederick's own ship being reduced to atoms, followed with a massive chunk of the massive grimm inside flying out, who roared in surprise and pain as it literally had half of it blown off.

"_**YOU… TRAITOR!" **_The grimm barely managed to let out through the incredibly intense pain, as it convulsed within its place.

Frederick then landed in front of the grimm gracefully. He then pointed his Shotgun with multiple runes of an old human language, as he ran up the alpha grimm while firing shotgun blasts on it. The remains of the Grimm looked on in horror, as it spasmed, unable to deal with the titan who dealt with it up front and with such brutality, having been unable to capture it.

"Oh, sorry." He said as he quickly spotted Caroline within the wreckage, backflipping off the beast and grabbing her, getting her out of danger. She looked spitefully at the guardian as she was carried to safety. "Were you expecting me to simply shoot and stab you to death when I had a big ship to throw at you?"

"_**Mark my words, demon of light!" **_The alpha grimm said as it burrowed into the ground to try and recover. "_**Your power shall be your down-"**_

Before it could even get that far, Frederick did a german suplex on a part of the grimm, pulling its face back up to meet a fully charged buckshot of solar light aimed directly at it. The grimm was finished off before it had a chance to retreat and plan ever again.

"Tell me something I don't already know." Frederick said casually, as he grabbed the sword out of the air with a free-hand, placing it on his back.

"I swear to that Traveler if yours, if you leave me with a tentacle monster or go ahead and spare my life again, I will shove that sword so far up you'll have trouble getting it out in the next life!" Cordovin screamed at Summer as she shook her, who flinched at the sheer volume of her voice. "DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR YOU BLOODY DAMN CHILD!?"

Summer, slayer of gods themselves and roughly 10 years of guardian service, simply nodded, hoping for the ringing in her ears to stop.

"Good! BECAUSE I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!" Cordovin kept on going, disregarding how loud she was. "I am under the employ of General Ironwood, the best military leader in all of Remnant! We were fine until you guardians-"

"Easy Caroline," Frederick said as he walked up to them, attempting to calm the situation down as Caroline whirled to him, giving him a glare so hot it could melt iron. "I'm certain you and your crew had a rough time in there. We got a pickup crew incoming to you guys up. Atlas bombing ships are two-seaters after all, right?"

"Tch!" Cordovin let out in annoyance, as she let go of Summer, who balanced herself well despite her ribs being crushed by the sheer grip of Cordovin. "Damn guardians and your whole heroism shit. Death probably would've been a nice change instead of dealing with moping your corpses up all day."

As Cordovin went to vent her frustrations off to her crew, Frederick picked up the sword the grimm had left behind, and gave it to her. "Let's hope the others don't catch wind of Caroline cursing so much at you. By chance is this the sword?"

"Yeah… yeah it is." Summer said with a laugh. "And honestly, I think the guardians could find ways of making her miserable without killing her. Remember that one time a bunch of Sunsinger warlocks filled up The Dungeons with corpses?"

Frederick shivered at the memory. "Can't believe the only option was to blow it up… let's get back to the Plaguelands and see what Barloc and Pyrrha have been up to."

00000

They neared the control room of the ketch, casualties few in the squadron of fallen they lead. Barloc, though injured in some places, was holding his own, while Pyrrha seemed to be exhausted.

"Remind me why the heck are we deciding to take a ketch instead of hijacking a skiff?"

"It'd be useful for when the fallen stronghold is located. And mapped out." Barloc clarified as he checked the team's ammunition, as well as thoroughly inspecting any of the crew for any SIVA. "And also so that it is proven fact that Remnant's huntsmen and huntresses could be of equal, if not more use to the Last City. No doubt many question why we still continue to divert resources when we're on our last legs."

Pyrrha's eyes widened at that. "B-but aren't we-"

"Your planet may be most ideal to evacuate to, and we do know you're people. Earth comes first, though." Barloc clarified, before turning to address the Eliksni. "Yun ra tun, ne nas. Bo hur?"

"**Bo da ra de. Kle splicer ketch?" **The captain of the fallen strike team said.

Barloc turned to the control room door. "They are ready. We must be as well."

"No time like the present then." Pyrrha said as she readied Milos, before rushing out the door.

"Wait, I didn't pop my heavy synth- … oh whatever!" Barloc stomped after Pyrrha in frustration, as the Fallen then proceeded to follow him into the final room.

00000

**Omake:How to tell a character is plotting to kill you pt ii**

Weiss walked into the house of the writer known as The Anime guy or so her contact said was one of the writers. However unlike her uncivilized teammates who have anger complexes for some reason, she wanted to discuss the lack of content on her character civilly but it appears that she has met one of the more… stubborn. and possibly more drunk writers of the team. That, or the blue cans called Pepsi was something else entirely.

She watched as the man in some sort of uniform took things from the black refrigerator and just started cooking. Despite the foul stench his body let off, the food smelled pretty good.

"So uh… what do you do for the military?" Weiss asked, trying to break the ice.

The man just looked at her with a straight face and said nothing, as if it was apparent.

"…You're a cook then?"

"If you want to be all knowledgeable and book wormy about it, I'm a food service specialist. I basically work as a Mess Hall worker cooking food for literally thousands of Marines and soldiers depending on where I'm sent." The man replied looking back to the stove.

"So... what are you making?" Weiss asked.

Then as if time had stopped. The stove was shut off and he put the food from several pots onto two plates. After that he placed one in front of Weiss and one in front of himself and grabbed two Pepsi's and opened them both.

"Well, go ahead. Tell me why you're here." The man asked.

His tired eyes seemed to have given Weiss a bit about himself.

"Are you ok?" Weiss asked as she slowly started using a knife on a piece of grilled chicken.

He sighs and holds a hand in his face.

"Look I'm… sorry for hitting you with my Saga 12. I've just had a long day and stuff, lots of folk out there that make me tense around you." The man said drinking his can of beer from Weiss point of view.

"Should you be drinking too much of those if you're depressed the way you are?" Weiss asked.

He paused for a second. "You think this is beer?"

"Yeah, I'm still technically a minor to drink this despite being 19 in my world." Weiss replied.

A look of utter shock was on his face. Before a smirk creased his face then full on laughter.

"What's so funny?" Weiss asked, confused.

"Pepsi is a soda." He let out between laughs. "It's not beer. I hate that shit with a passion."

….

"Ok then." Weiss said as she took a sip eying the man strangely as if not trusting him. Only to find out it was a surgery drink like the soda back on Remnant. "Oh… now I see why."

He only laughed louder as Weiss blushed in embarrassment for her pre-assumption about the writer. They then continued to eat in silence.

"Well anyways... what's with the Fate Saber reject armor? Seems impractical, especially with the belts that have no use for anything." The Anime guy pointed out her current outfit out of the many she had worn before.

"Excuse me?" Weiss couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

"Yea, you look like a mixed Kingdom hearts or Fate Saber in that outfit. It feels like CRwby is lacking in the imagination department a bit in my opinion."

"...Not my preferred outfit in all honesty. Kind of miss the white I wore, and I should really do something useful with these belts, probably use them to carry around dust ammunition." Weiss admitted, as she scratched the back of her head. "Probably should do something about the hair or whatnot. Regardless, I'm wondering why I haven't been given enough time for the fanfic you four are writing."

The Anime guy calmed down his laughter and looked at Weiss.

"Look Weiss. The story isn't about you per say, nor the entire cast of RWBY. It's Ruby and Summer, as we work along the DLCs. We're building and trying to show these two characters trying to reconcile and reconnect after having spent nearly two decades apart from one another, and having experienced entirely different lives. Think about it. In the actual show, everyone is rather lackluster aside from you four, some of whom only build you guys. So we're just focusing on a much smaller cast while only making up one-off characters that don't matter and eventually disappear or get killed off, but still need to fill the scene as to have substance to them. Like the chapter Ptabs did with a plumber named Mario, or the shopkeepers and other such characters that have been made so far. And yea, I preferred your older outfits."

"I see. But-" Weiss was cut off and even was surprised that he even liked her older outfits. But listened intently to what he had to say.

"Look, you'll get your turn eventually. We have outlines, beat sheets even. Now then," The Anime guy said as he began to move until his phone buzzed. He pulled it out and looked at it for a moment.

_Diluation:Survived the kitty cat. You guys sent the rest to me yet? Don't worry, I already have a contingency plan for the other three built in case they come after me. It should also work for the rest of us, if you can set it up yourselves or get over here safely._

He was still typing. Weiss waited pensively for Anime Guy's next response, an expression mixed between mild annoyance and curiosity on her face as she noticed him going to the phone.

Animeak116: _Don't worry about me Weiss seems to be the more Civil of the four should be done with her soon. Quick question. If the girls are here do they have a place to stay? _

"Sorry about that. A friend of mine just survived his encounter with Blake." The Anime guy said

Weiss however blushed a bit mostly about the antics that might come from Ruby and Yang and unexpectedly Blake. "Sorry about them. What's it like here?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, you still live with your parents despite-"

And just in cue, another message came up on the phone, followed by a couple other messages.

_Diluation:Oh, and if any of you three are reading this, Ruby, you're an idiot for attacking your mother like that, Weiss, your father was right in that you should've stayed home, and Yang? I touched the Bellabooty. Come at me b._

_Diluation:Oh. Uhhh…_

_Diluation:I retract my statement about Weiss. She's pretty cool despite losing almost every battle she's been in._

_Aquilos:You dun fucked up boyo._

_Diluation:Well, good thing my contingency plan is strong. So strong, it could stop any team of huntsmen in their tracks!_

That was followed by an emoji of Cayde dabbing. The Anime Guy was just one step away from potentially getting Weiss to charge after Diluation too, as all Weiss had to do was look at the phone.

Weiss frowned a bit, as she wondered what was going on. "Is there something wrong? Blake still isn't attacking him or whatnot, right?"

The anime guy sighs.

"No, just the head writer now realizing what I just sent. Social suicide via 'touching' Blake's backside, and proceeding to brag about it." He said with a bit of annoyance. "I get he's watching out for us, but I don't think he can handle you three. I don't even know how he dealt with Blake."

She sighs in annoyance at the obvious, yet incredibly smart bait Diluation just played. "Maybe the white rose shippers were right." Weiss stated.

"I'd beg to differ."

An uncomfortable silence fell between the two for a moment, before Weiss smirked, a devious idea forming in her head. "How about outdoing your friend?"

00000

Ruby approached the house of one of the authors that adopted their story, Remnant of a Rose. It was a bungalow type of home in a run-of the mill suburban location. She approached the door to knock, but just before her fist connected to the door, it opened and before her was the author known as Dustiniz117.

"Hello Miss Rose, I've been expecting you. Please come in."

She entered the living room and sat on one of the chairs with Dustiniz taking the one across from her.

"I know why you're here… you wish to bash me and my fellow authors on why we haven't given you and your team their proper time in the spotlight. Cookies?" He said, handing her a plate. She gazed at the assortment of Chocolate chip, m&ms and Reese's pieces cookies and stuffed them all into her mouth nodding in agreement.

He leaned towards her, looking her in the eyes as equals. "What you must then realize is that it is not just one author, but several all working on it at once. And sometimes we have creative differences, so we compromise. One bit not having its due now, in exchange of it appearing in one of the DLCs at some future date. I myself am working on some chapters for my 'Remnant of an Iron Rose shorts'. Some are just "one and done" filler and some that will serve as the building blocks for the DLCs that we will be doing. Not to mention that we have school, jobs or other obligations that take precedence over writing."

She nodded in understanding. Knowing that everyone has lives outside of the stories they create and must do them in their own time. But she did have a question she had to let loose.

"I feel like me and mom have been taking up too much screen time. If it's too much to ask, can you guys give more to my friends?" Ruby asked her mouth full of sugary sweets.

He leaned back in his chair, pondering. "While I can't speak for my fellow authors, I will do what I can to give each of your friends their dues. What I will say is this: In Red War, all RWBY characters will have their moments. Would you like some milk?"

Ruby nods in understanding and hope. "Yes please."

And so the author and animated heroine enjoyed their milk and cookies. As they did so, Dustinz decided to once more ignore the notifications from his phone as he left it on silent, figuring that Diluation was probably trying to draw the ire of all the girls at once, and mentally scar them as he ran for safety. He knew, of course, that it was a ultimately pointless endeavor, since Diluation probably didn't calm down and think before attempting to do something. He likened it to dealing with Yang, and sometimes he had to wonder if the young adult had the hair to boot.

The best way to solve a conflict after all, was to settle it peacefully. And this was just that. Though he had to wonder where Summer was in all this.

00000

Summer was busy burning away all of the lewds pertaining to her, Ruby, and all of the other particularly disgusting lewds, humming a song to herself as a man helped her. Lewds were spread all over a long hallway as if it was decoration.

"This is quite a lot of ink he used just for a one-use thing, Ptabs."

"Must've costed him over hundreds just to do it." Ptabs said back to Summer, as he burnt a particularly nasty one pertaining to a degenerate level lewd. "Glad you could come by the way. Kind of hard to protect the people trying to finish your stuff when you're incorporeal."

"You got me where I was today, so it's no problem. Besides," Summer said, before smirking. "It'd be a shame if I just…"

"_Tabbed out on you like that." _ They both said at the same time, before sharing a laugh.

Meanwhile, completely oblivious everything down below, stood Diluation on the rooftop, talking to someone on the phone. "You have yourself prepped up? ...Yeah I know, it's pretty demeaning, but trust me, we need to get Yang walking out in abject horror. I can't fight her, and you know we can't reason with her like this. Shock is the next best thing."

"...Did he seriously just-"

"Considering what we're burning? I think we're saving him from the worst death imaginable right now."

00000

"This is the place?" Barloc's nose upturned at the shack, with a hastily scrawled "Do not Disturb" sign at the door.

"Well, this is the only place at this address. Don't worry I'll knock." Cayde said cheerily as he strolled up.

"Cayde, tha's not-" He was cut off by Cayde knocking on the door, and it immediately falling off its hinges into the dark recesses of the shack.

"Wasn't me." Cayde said, holding his hands up. Barloc sighed and walked up peeking in.

"Hello?" he called out. "Is this where an Aquilos lives?" When there was no response, he carefully started going in.

"It's the pizza guy." Cayde called out following him. "You think the guy's home?" Cayde asked, stepping over a stack of loose leaf paper, almost a foot tall.

"Has to be, but just in case." Barloc unholstered a sidearm from his belt as he approached a door. Just as he was about to push it, a groaning sound emerged from behind it, immediately putting both guardians on edge.

"Ok, either someone has some serious indigestion, or he was the cause of something else's indigestion." Cayde remarked as his hand went for the Ace. Barloc had his sidearm raised at the door and held up his hand.

"On three, one, two-"

"THREE!" Cayde charged forward and kicked the door open with a crash, his ace leveled. "Alright come out you ugly piece of- what?" The room was dark, with a pile of notebooks and notebook paper in the middle. There was a rustling sound as a head with black flyaway hair and glasses popped out of the bottom of the pile.

"Whozat~" He mumbled, half asleep.

"Um, we're looking for an Aquilos?" Cayde replied, lowering his hand cannon.

"Oh that's me, um, have a seat anywhere, we have a lot to talk about."

00000

**Diluation:Another chapter, another whole month instead of a week having passed by(Sorry! .)... well, at least we're getting close to the end. Onto the reviews.**

Federal Republic of the Earth Empire:Can I ask what happened to Ptabs?**  
**

**Diluation:Check the chapter saying 'News'.**

DemonShimada:the no spacing is more of ruby forte, porte speaks more flamboyant and colorful words in the good way

**Diluation:I'm sorry, what? Please clarify in a PM.**


End file.
